Property of Akatsuki: Higurashi Kagome
by mookies
Summary: There's a reason the bad guys always go after Kagome... Inuyasha/Naruto xover
1. Welcome to the happiest place on earth

Hehheh, this is my first story that I've actually written and am posting up. Meh, this is really nerve whacking because I can't write to save my life. XP

Wah, I'm so happy though because the whole Kagome/Akatsuki is catching on! Good times!

Sorry if they seem OOC. I'm still working on that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Naruto. (starts crying.)

**EDITED!**

**

* * *

**

"And with that said, I would like you, Higurashi Kagome, to join my organization, Akatsuki," explained a darkened figure seated in front of a young, incredibly pretty blue eyed girl.

The raven haired girl immediately began to protest, "Eh? B-But why me? Isn't there some other miko you can-" "There hasn't been a miko recorded in over a thousand years." interrupted the darkened man.

Blue-gray eyes widened. _Damn, why is it always me_? Kagome's eyes wandered around the room where 7 other males and one woman were seated. All of them had such stoic looks on there faces. Well, except for the guy in the orange mask, Kagome really couldn't tell what his expression was.

"And if I say no?" she questioned slowly, not really sure on whether or not she wanted to hear the answer.

"Then consider yourself just another obstacle and enemy in the way."

_Ouch._

Kagome weakly smiled and looked at the ground. Did she really have a choice? She knew that she could fight off most opponents but if it was against one of the most feared organizations in the shinobi world, did she really want to chance it?

_No._

No she didn't.

_I knew I shouldn't have bothered getting out of bed today.

* * *

_

Kagome had been walking down this awfully long hallway, when a blond man with his hair covering his right eye appeared out of nowhere.

"Well, well, it's the newbie. I'm Deidara, un." He introduced himself as.

Kagome smiled and slightly nodded her head in acknowledgment, "Hi Deidara-kun! I'm Kagome but I guess you already knew that." How the hell was everyone okay with about 3 miles of space between each room?

"Yeah... did Leader-sama assign you a partner yet?" questioned Deidara as they resumed walking down the hall. He was curious to see if Kagome might have a chance of becoming his new partner, since Sasori no Danna had died. He certainly would not mind having her as a comrade. But then there was also that other newbie, Tobi.

"No. He didn't mention anything about a partner." '_Or maybe he did and I just wasn't paying attention.' _She thought. She tended to do that a lot.

"Oh." For a moment it was completely silent, but whenever one was with Kagome, it was never quiet. "Um, not that I'm complaining or anything but, why are you still walking with me?" Kagome asked with a raised eyebrow. Deidara looked at the small girl and shrugged his shoulders.

Kagome sighed and let a small smile grace her features before thinking about how regardless of where she was, or who was with, she always, _always _tended to attract trouble.

However, **none** of it compared to this. Usually she was just chased down by ignorant thugs who thought they could take advantage of her, or someone tried to kidnap her and force her to do whatever they wanted, or they wanted to use her as bait to get something from Inuyasha or Miroku.

Not this time.

This time, an organization—an evil, no-good organization—wanted her for her unique powers.

She was a little scared, sure. But... it always worked out it the end...

Another sigh escaped her, causing Deidara to raise an eyebrow at her.

_'The story of my life..'_

End of chapter.

* * *

AN: Yeah, Yeah, I know it sucks, but hey, everybody starts somewhere, ne?


	2. Pancakes, Mothers and Bills

Yay, I'm back!Thank you soooo much to everyone that reviewed! I wanted to update for you guys because I love you guys so much! And since you guys were soooo nice and supportive, this chapter is much longer then the first, at least I think it is. I hope it is. It looked long when I was typing it.

On with the story!

**EDITED!**

**

* * *

**

"Wow, I haven't slept that good in ages!" exclaimed Kagome as she lazily turned in her queen sized bed. And really, she hadn't. Whenever they traveled, Inuyasha usually made them sleep outside, on the cold, unwelcoming forest floor. He claimed money didn't have to be wasted on hotels or inns when the forest provided just as much comfort _and _was free. Pfft. Yeah right. One could only stand sleeping on the ground for oh so long. She momentarily stopped fidgeting around when she heard distant yelling.

"Goddammit! Whose turn was it to cook? I'm fucking starving!"

"Ano, Tobi can co-"

"NO!"

The young girl of only 16 laughed and got out of bed. She then proceeded to change out of her blue pajamas and into her usual outfit which consisted of beige shorts, a tight light blue v-neck short sleeved shirt with a slightly longer sleeved fishnet under that and fingerless black gloves. As she was finishing putting on her gloves she noted that not only had Leader failed to tell anything about a partner but he had also failed in giving her those cloaks that everybody else wore. It kind of made her feel out of place. But then again, cloak or not, she still didn't fit in because of the fact that she was a woman!

Well... now that she thought about it, that was nothing to be upset about.

'Woman and proud.' she thought before finally heading out on her long journey to the kitchen.

* * *

The sight Kagome walked in on made her want to burst out laughing.

There seated at the table were all the Akatsuki members -except Leader-, glaring at a box of pancake mix, except for the guy with the red eyes, who just looked bored.

"What, are you guys expecting it to cook itself?" she said using a strong sarcastic tone. All heads turned toward her.

"She's awake! Women can cook!" exclaimed Kisame, who was ready to give up on the whole pancake thing and just kill everyone and eat them instead. Hunger drove people to do crazy things.

Kagome glared at the shark man before moving to get the box from the center of the table. She was going to start gathering the materials necessary but froze when she felt a rather unpleasing number of eyes watching her every move.

"Um, can you guys go do something and I'll call you when it's ready...?"

"Yes, of course, Kagome-chan! Tobi shall comply to your wishes for Tobi is a good boy!" Yelled the boy in the swirly orange mask before skipping out of the room. Another man with a mask covering half of his face also left, saying that he needed to finish counting his money.

The guy with the giant Venus fly trap and the guy with the cold ruby eyes also stood up before leaving the room.

A man with silver hair and violet eyes slowly got up and left mumbling about bitches that thought they were in charge of everything.

Next to leave was Kisame, and finally Deidara.

Kagome sighed in relief. That only took forever and a day!

She turned to the refrigerator. "Okay! Time to get started!"

* * *

"Wow this is great Kagome-chan! How come my mom never cooked food as yummy as this?" asked Tobi while stuffing a mouthful of pancakes into his mouth. He was turned away from the other members, not willing to show them the face behind the mask.

As soon as Tobi mentioned his mother, Kagome was instantly reminded of her own mom and her mood instantly dropped.

_'They still don't know...'_

Would she ever get the chance to tell her family the reason of her decision to join Akatsuki?

Yeah that'd be great. Kagome would just stroll up to Higurashi Shrine, walk into the house, go into the living room and exclaim, 'Hey, Mom, Ji-chan, and Souta! Long time, no see! Oh, guess what? I joined the world famous criminal organization Akatsuki, where I'm surrounded by hot men 24/7! Come give me a hug!'

Ha! That would go well!

While Kagome was busy sulking, most of the guys finished eating and left. When the young priestess finally looked up, she saw the tall man with the bottom half of his face covered, madly writing on a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" Kagome asked, curiosity overruling her saddened mood.

The man answered without looking up. "Bills. I work Akatsuki's finances. I usually do these in the room, but Hidan's performing his ritual and he is not a tidy man. I don't want blood all over them."

Kagome raised an eyebrow but said nothing. These sorts of things really did not interest her. It was quiet for a few moments.

The writing suddenly stopped. "Damn that Hidan!" yelled Kakuzu in complete rage, breaking his pencil tip.

Kagome, who was completely startled out of lala land, stared at the man with wide eyes as he stared in disbelief and anger at the innocent piece of paper on the table.

"Wh-What's wro-"

"How the hell does someone spend half a million dollars in just one month? Damn him!"

Kagome sweat-dropped when Kakuzu sat back down and tore another clean sheet of paper from his notebook.

"I will see to it that he pays every cent back and more. The water bill was $303. 64. I'll add the cable bill to it, but subtract $50 and multiply four into that... " Now, he was just sort of muttering to himself while Kagome watched with slightly concerned blue eyes.

She knew money had the ability to make people lose it!

Not wanting to listen to the money/mathematical based rant, she left the room, searching for someone else she could talk to or hang out with.

The reason she left had nothing to do with Kakuzu.

She just hated math.

End of Chapter.

* * *

AN: Originally, before all the edits, there was an note about the Inuyasha manga that had not ended at the time. Yeah, it ended like 59 chapters later, about 2 years ago. XD


	3. I'm a priestess not a kunoichi

Ahh! I love you all!

Hikage Dragon: Lol!! Yeah, if it's not a problem with you, I'll use that part!

Oo, and the idea for Itachi teaching Kagome how to use Kunai is completely Kurama'sFoxyMiko!! Thanks a bunch!

**Disclaimer**: This counts for the last chapter as well. I don't own _Inuyasha_ or Kagome. Or Akatsuki. Sad.

**EDITED!! (I really fixed this chapter up.)**

Also, I just wanted to point out, I know Itachi seems OOC, but before anybody says anything, just remember SPOILER: that Itachi was not the bad guy! That is all.

-00--00--0-0-0-0

Was this how it was everyday?

Everybody spent their days locked up in their rooms doing hell knows what?

Kagome sighed in agony. She tried looking for Deidara but he had been assigned a mission earlier on in the day. Kakuzu was most likely still doing his bills and trying to start a fire on his innocent piece of paper and if Hidan was splashing blood all over the walls, then she'd rather wait until later to properly meet him. And she didn't know where all the other members were so she was heading outside to go practice her archery.

She wasn't expecting the murderer of the Uchiha clan to be there.

She had heard of the Uchiha massacre from the old village gossipers that her Ji-chan liked to hang out with. Her grandpa had called Itachi a bastard and swore that he was a demon and that he would one day kill him with his enchanted sutras.

Yeah right. Itachi was no demon. He just had the ability to scare people like one.

Kagome shook her thoughts out of her head and quietly walked up to Itachi. He looked asleep. What she didn't know was that Itachi was awake, and that he always went outside to think. He had a lot of things to think about after all, mainly about the well (or not so well) being of his younger brother.

"Is there something you need?" He asked with his eyes closed. His deep voice frightened her.

"Oh You're awake!" she chuckled nervously and looked at the bow and arrows she was carrying. "Um, I was just gonna go shoot a few arrows, to make sure that I haven't gotten rusty or anything..."

Itachi didn't say anything, so Kagome just turned around and walked over to where a huge boulder was. Notching an arrow to her bow, she pointed it toward a large tree, so it would hit the center.

Itachi was watching with an impassive face, but to be honest he was interested. How were the girl's arrows different from ordinary arrows?

Concentrating was all that was on Kagome's mind.

Flashback

_"Kagome, ye have an enormous amount of spiritual power inside your body, but ye must learn how to control it." explained the old village healer(or as Inuyasha called her, hag) Kaede._

_"But, Kaede-obaachan, I don't understand, why do I have so much power? I don't want it."_

_Kaede shook her head. "I do not know, child. But look at this as a gift, ye are much different then ordinary children." 'And,' Kaede added in her own mind, 'You are going to be one of the most memorable women this world has ever seen.'_

End Flashback

The then 8-year old Kagome regularly went to Kaede's small hut everyday, to work on keeping her powers in tact, and to make sure that they weren't a threat inside Kagome's small body.

Then, after Kagome's 11th birthday, Kaede had taught her how to make barriers, and how to use a bow and arrow. The right first time Kagome had let go of an arrow, it ended up flying in the wrong direction. It had taken her a while to get it right, but she did improve dramatically. Right after that, Kaede taught Kagome how to import her miko ki into the arrow.

Kagome accidentally made the bow explode the first time because there was too much energy in it.

Kaede scolded her and made her go meditate for 3 whole hours.

Her second time went much better, but there was still too much power. After a month of hard training, The tiny miko of the Higurashi family was finally able to control the amount of power she put in her arrows. Herbs, sutras, healing, anything and everything connected with mikos was taught to Kagome, who later got Mushin-Sama as her teacher.

And she always made sure that all that training was put to good use. She was not one to take things for granted!

With all thoughts cleared from her head, Kagome poured some ki into the arrow and released it and smiled as she saw hit dead center, which was just the smack dab middle of the tree. Her smile slightly faltered when the tree slighly pitched backwards. "Opps."

Itachi's eyes narrowed when he saw a bright pink light surround the flimsy arrow and hit right where Kagome wanted it to. He was taken aback when the tree snapped a bit back. He did not expect her to have so much power.

He got up from his seated position. "That was pretty impressive. Do you have any skills as a kunoichi?"

Kagome frowned and shook her head."No, I'm a priestess not a Kunoichi. I mean, I can kind of fight but--"

"Then, you cannot use a kunai?"

"Um, no, not—" She shut her mouth when Itachi handed her one. He figured it would probably be wise to teach the girl how to defend herself with another weapon besides her bow. Leader had made it clear that all the members were to contribute to helping Kagome in any way possible.

"You must learn how to throw one first. Throw it toward the tree, at the exact spot where your arrow is."

Kagome blinked. Why did he want to see her throw a knife toward a tree?

She stared at the usually silent man but took the kunai from his hand and threw it toward the bark of the tree and blushed when it landed on the roots of it. Oh, it was like she was learning how to use the bow and arrow all over again!

Somehow, Itachi wasn't all that surprised. The girl had the ability to hit it, but she probably thought that it required more thought then necessary. He just had to get her thinking on the right track.

"Think of it as using an arrow. They are two different weapons, but their purposes are the same. An arrow can only trap a person. A kunai can do that as well, but it also cuts. Flick your wrist when you throw it," He explained. Talking to this girl was like talking to a younger Sasuke, with the way she was looking at him, with her wide blue eyes and innocent expression. It looked like she was listening but he wasn't sure.

Kagome couldn't help but think if the expression 'A wise man once said...' and nodded her head at the wise man in this situation and was presented with another kunai. In her mind, she envisioned the tip of an arrow, and the tip of a kunai. Like Itachi said, they were the same, except it was easy to see that the kunai was much deadlier. She stared at the spot that she wanted it to hit with deep dedication and put a bit of power in the dangerous weapon and flicked it toward the tree. A small smile lifted her lips when she saw it land almost directly under the arrow.

Well. The wise man had been right!

Itachi nodded before turning away. She was a quick learner. "Continue to practice. If you train for a bit more, you will be able to correctly utilize a kunai."

Kagome stared at Itachi's retreating back. "Thanks!" When Itachi failed to reply, Kagome turned back to the kunai that was embedded in the tree's roots and pulled it out, then she moved her gaze to the kunai that was close to the arrow. "Practice indeed," she mumbled before walking back to where she was standing before to give this kunai throwing another shot.

Itachi's words echoed in her head.

_'If you train for a bit more, you will be able to correctly utilize a kunai.'_

Determination hit her blue-gray eyes. These kunai things were so much cooler than her old bow! If she learned how to use it properly, then she could defend herself better, and not have to rely on others so much! She put her hand in the position that would allow her to flick it at her target and charged it with a little more energy than before.

'This one's gonna hit!'

A few moments later a loud crash came from outside.

End of chapter.


	4. The guy who looked dead, but wasnt

The guy with the perfect, slicked-back, silver hair really pissed her off.

…Hidan.

Not only did he have the dirtiest mouth she had ever had the displeasure of hearing (and that was saying something, especially since she spent a lot of time with Inuyasha) but his sadistic and masochistic nature was really, really creepy. Plus, he could be so infuriating at times!

Her thoughts went to the day she met him.

//_Flashback//_

"_Who the fuck are you?" _

_Blue-gray eyes blinked in surprise before slightly narrowing. She did **not **appreciate the unnecessary language and there were nicer ways to ask who she was. "Kagome. And you are…?"_

"_Hidan." The man answered. "So, you're the newbie, right?" Violet eyes slowly scanned over her form, and Kagome couldn't help but shiver at the intense look over.…wait. _

_This guy had some nerve! "Can you please not stare?" She snapped, glaring at the strange male._

_Hidan smirked at the girl. "Well, well. That's a snappy temper for a priestess." His tone was both teasing and mocking when he said the word priestess. _

_Kagome's pretty eyes widened before narrowing back down again. "Maybe if I didn't have to deal with guys like you, I wouldn't have such a 'snappy temper,' now would I?!" _

_Blink. Just what was this chick's deal? "What the hell? Why are you getting all angry? What the fuck did I do?" Hidan asked. Now he was starting to get angry, and when he got angry…_

_Kagome groaned in frustration and began to walk away. 'Calm down, Kagome, calm down. Don't let this jerk get to you.' She repeated that mantra over and over again, glad that her anger wasn't taking over like it usually did whenever something really got to her. Hidan was not worth losing her cool over! _

_Fortunately, after a couple of seconds, she managed to cool down, and everything was fine, until she heard the irritating man again. _

"_See ya, hot stuff!" _

_//Flashback over!//_

Kagome frowned when the memory was over with. Why were guys such jerks? Especially silver-haired guys. 'Maybe Inuyasha and Hidan were related or something in their past lives,' The blue-eyed girl thought. 'I wouldn't be surprised.'

She continued on her way to wherever, when footsteps suddenly echoed throughout the hallway. "Kagome-chan! Kagome-chan!" Cried out a desperate voice.

Kagome turned around to find a panicking Tobi rapidly approaching her.

Just as the orange-masked man was about to crash into her, he suddenly stopped about 4 inches away from her, and tried to catch his breath.

"Tobi-kun? Are you alright?"

Breathing normally once again, Tobi stood up straight. "Oh, Tobi is fine, but Hidan-san is-"

"Injured?" Kagome finished, already used to the sentence and _slightly _concerned. It was just her nature to care about _everyone_.

"Yes! Please come help him!" Tobi exclaimed and grabbed Kagome's arm before bolting in the direction that he came from.

Somehow and someway, Kagome managed to keep up with him, despite the fact that Tobi was running like hell was at his heels. Finally, they came to a halt in front of a violet colored door. Just like Tobi had done before, she tried to catch her breath while Tobi opened the door to the "injured" Hidan's room. He ushered the girl in and stood beside her.

Kagome could only stare in shock. Sure, she had been warned from the other members about Hidan's bizarre ritual, but to actually see it…

"Is….he even alive?" She whispered to her masked companion, nervously gazing at the still body of the dirty-mouthed Akatsuki member.

"I don't know, Kagome-chan! I came to get you because you can heal things! And maybe you can make Hidan-san's cut all better!"

"I can't do anything if he's already dead!"

"Maybe he's not! Maybe Tobi and Kagome-chan can still save him!"

"Right! Okay," She grabbed Tobi's hand and led him to the body. "You take out the blade and I'll start to heal his wound!"

"Hai!"

Now, both Tobi and Kagome were the newest Akatsuki members, so, while they knew that stabbing himself was part of Hidan's ritual, they had no idea that he was _supposed_ to leave the blade inside him for about half an hour and just lay there in his blood-created circle. To them, it looked like he had tripped and knocked himself unconscious or something. That's why they were unknowingly about to interrupt Hidan's necessary daily routine and try to save him!

Hidan's violet eyes finally opened he felt something the blade sliding out of his stomach. "--the fuck? Hey! What the fuck are you two dumb-asses doing?!" He growled out, startling the other two Akatsuki members and grasping onto the bloody blade in Tobi's hand.

"Oh, Kagome-chan! He's alive!"

"You stupid dipshit! Of course I am!" He looked at Kagome. Then at her glowing pink hands. "No! Don't heal me, you dumb bitch!"

Kagome ignored the insult. "But you're losing too much blood!"

"I'm supposed to, goddamn it!"

"Why are you yelling at me?! I was only trying to help!"

"How the fuck are you helping me when you're disrupting my ritual, you stupid fucks?!"

Kagome could feel tears beginning to develop. Why was she getting yelled at when she was only trying to do the right thing? "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't know!" She turned towards Tobi. "I thought you said that he needed help!!!"

Tobi scratched his head. "Hmm. Tobi thought so too. I guess not." He said with a chuckle.

A sigh of frustration left Kagome's lips and she turned to the bloody Hidan, who looked both murderous and amused at the same time.

Total silence.

It was sooooo awkward. She felt like such an idiot.

After a while, Hidan finally smirked then looked away and said, "Newbies."

_**X0x0x0x0x0xx0x0x**_

"You better not be lying to me, you bastard. If you are, I swear-"

"Inuyasha. Please stop harassing the poor gentlemen. You won't any information from him if he's too scared to talk," Said Miroku as he pushed his silver-haired companion to the side. "My apologies," he bowed to the trembling male, "He is just worried for our friend. She's been missing for a few days now. Perhaps you have seen her? Her name is Higurashi Kagome. She's rather small, has long, raven hair, and these rather captivating bluish, grayish eyes." He provided the information with sad eyes.

"She's also very pretty!" Piped in a young boy with bright orange hair.

Miroku nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, she is very beautiful. And," He waved his hands around his chest, "she is rather well-endo--"

"Alright, pervert, stop right there! The guy doesn't need to know _everything_!" Cut in Inuyasha.

"I beg to differ, Inuyasha. Maybe Kagome-chan's assets might have caught this young man's attention and-"

The gentleman on the ground blinked rapidly as he watched the two grown men fight like a bunch of children. _'Who are these strange men? They're not normal…maybe if I move away slowly…' _

His thoughts were interrupted by the orange-haired boy. "So, have you seen her?" The boy's bright green eyes were filled with hope.

"…no. I'm sorry, but I haven't. However, you might want to try heading east, there's a village there and maybe someone there _might_ have seen her."

Shippo nodded. "Okay!" He then headed over to his friends and jumped on Miroku's shoulder. "He says that he hasn't seen her, but there's a village to the east that might have someone that may have! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" He tugged on Miroku's small pony-tail at the base of his neck.

Being the polite one of the trio, Miroku turned to thank the man, only to find him gone. "My. He sure moves fast."

"Keh, that jack-ass better be right." Said Inuyasha as he began walking east. Miroku quickly followed. Even a complete idiot could figure that he was worried for his friend. There was no saying what could have happened to their beloved Kagome. She was just a magnet for trouble, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it.

All three males could only think the same thing. _'Please be safe, Kagome.' _

End Chapter.

--_**x0x0x0x0x0x**_

Yah. This is a little late, I realize...

I feel super bad! Super, super bad! But, better late then never! Right...? I feel like a piece of crap, since people were saying, 'update soon' and lots of other nice things, and I wasn't, and so, I decided to!

So, here you go. To all my faithful readers. :)


	5. Message from Kagome part 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything!

So you guys don't get confused, when Zetsu is talking:

"Talking"--White Zetsu

"_Talking"---Black Zetsu_

And_: _

_'Thoughts'_

Enjoy!

X0x0x0x0x0x

Higurashi Kagome was a very strange girl. It didn't take Zetsu long to figure that out and he hadn't even properly met her yet. The past few weeks had been busy for him, and he finally had some free time; but instead of resting or anything of the sort, he choose to observe the young woman that had gotten the attention of pretty much all the Akatsuki members.

"I don't think she has noticed us yet."

"_I agree. She seems to be in her own little world. She'd be a horrible ninja." _

"Most likely. What is she even saying?"

"_Something about her family, I believe."_

"Ah...she's been here a while now. I doubt she has had any contact with them since she got here."

"_No. How could she?" _

Zetsu continued to silently follow behind the muttering blue-eyed girl who he thought had yet to notice him through the halls of the Akatsuki Hideout.

What he didn't know was the Kagome was well aware that she was being followed. Her mouth was sputtering out stuff about home, but her mind was racing with thoughts on who might be following her. '_What do I do? What do I do?! I could yell for help...but what good would that do? Nobody would probably hear me! Inuyasha's not here to save me either...meaning I have to do this on my own!! But what do I do?! Who's even following me? _Why _are they following me? Oh, what do I do...? '_

Conflicted, she came to a complete halt, surprising Zetsu. Sure, her fighting skills weren't all that great, but that didn't mean she couldn't fight back at_ all._ Or, she could at the most, _stall_ them.

His white half blinked in confusion. "Why did she stop?"

His black half blinked in wonder. _"She _knows_ we're here." _He said before waiting in complete silence.

Kagome sucked in a deep breath and said, "I know you're there," confirming Zetsu's statement. She was startled for a moment when the green-haired male materialized in front of her.

If she were anybody else, the giant Venus fly-trap that engulfed the man's upper body probably would have bothered her.

But, she was Higurashi Kagome. She was used to strange, unexplainable things like this. So, instead of screaming her lungs out, she choose to ask, "Why are you following me? Who are you?"

White Zetsu smiled. "We're Zetsu."

"_We're?_" Kagome looked around. "Are there two of you?"

Black Zetsu spoke this time. _"No. He is Zetsu and I am Zetsu. We are one." _

_'That doesn't make any sense!' _Thought Kagome. "Um...okay. But that doesn't answer why you're following me around."

"It is our job. We have to make sure you are not a threat to the other members."

"Me? A threat? Against S-ranked criminals? Are you serious? What am I gonna do: poison your dinner?"

"_It is very possible. Thank you for informing us of your intentions." _

Kagome felt like smashing her head into the nearest wall. Obviously, this guy didn't get the idea of sarcasm. "Eh, I was just kidding."

Zetsu responded back as serious as serious could get, _"Regardless, you will be under surveillance at nearly all hours of everyday for that brash comment." _

Blinking in confusion, Kagome said, "What? But I've been here for a while now! Why is this just starting to happen now?"

Zetsu ignored her as his white half commented, "Why would she need to be watched for so long? She said it was merely a joke. She seems like a very sweet girl."

"_It's the sweet ones you have to watch out for."_

"I disagree. Look at her: she's delicate, and probably wouldn't even harm a fly."

_'If that's what they think, they should see how I react when Inuyasha makes me mad...' _Kagome thought with an expressionless frown.

"_That's what she wants you to think. How do you know that she won't try to seduce anyone in order to escape? With the exception of Konan and her, this is an all male organization." _

**That **got Kagome's attention. And not in a good way. Not only was she threat, she was also a seductress? Really?

"I really doubt that. She practically glows in innocence. And she's so young."

"_She's only a couple years younger than our youngest members and they are all at _**that** _age. On top of that, she has a lovely face. She could easily have any member wrapped around her finger."_

"**That** age?"

"**That **age?" Kagome repeated. For kamis sake, she was only 16!

"_Yes, _**that**_ age. When all they can think about is se—"_

"Alright, that's enough!!!" Kagome all but screamed.

Gold eyes shifted to gaze at the fuming blue-gray eyed girl.

"I do _not _appreciate the fact that you think that I would try to seduce _anybody_ to get my way! I would never do something like that!"

"_Never say never. You never know when you'll be put into a situation where—" _

Blue eyes narrowed down in anger. "No! No, no, no, no, no! It doesn't matter what the situation is! I am not the sort of girl who would do that and I'm insulted that you would even think that I would! Who the hell do you think you are?!" At this point, Kagome really didn't care that the green-haired man was her superior. He pissed her off with his insensitive comments and that was enough to make her start mouthing him off. Nobody, she didn't care _who_ they were, talked about her like that!

Zetsu was starting to get _scared_. She was so small, but the amount of anger behind her words was terrifying. He had been merely trying to make a point, not insult her. "Look," His white half sighed, "You upset her."

"_It was not my intention to do so. I was merely trying to explain why we were following her around and it escalated from there. I was only thinking the way any shinobi would. " _

"And look where that got us." Zetsu sighed again.

It took her a while, but Kagome sighed as well. She realized that getting angry wasn't going to help anyone. Zetsu was only trying to do his job...whatever it was. She had no real reason to be mad at him. Sure, he had hurt her feelings by insinuating some pretty rude things, but maybe he just wasn't used to being in the presence of a female like her, or any female for that matter. She knew she could be quite a handful at times. "I'm sorry, Zetsu-san." She apologized. "It's just been a rough couple of weeks."

Zetsu blinked. What was she apologizing for? He had been the one to insult her. "It's...alright?" He asked more than stated.

"I'm glad!" And just like that all of Kagome's bitter rage was gone.

….were all women as strange as she was?

Boy, was he glad he didn't understand the way the female mind worked.

"Well, it's been...fun. I guess I'll get going now...." Kagome awkwardly shifted from her left foot to her right, in that manner that indicated that she was really embarrassed. "...It was _nice_ meeting you. See you later, Zetsu-san!" And just as she was about to turn tail and run like never before, Zetsu remembered something. "Hold on a minute." He said, stopping her in her tracks.

"Eh? What is it?" The blue-eyed girl asked. Couldn't he tell that she really, really wanted to leave?!!

"_You haven't talked to your family since you got here, correct?" _

Kagome's heart stilled. She had _not _been expecting that. It had been about two weeks since she had last seen her family and friends. The homesickness was starting to catch up again. Almost whispering, she answered, "...that's right."

"_Well, you're in luck. Think of this as __**our**__apology_."

Confusion attacked Kagome's brain, as Zetsu moved closer to her, a smirk on his split face. "You see, we're willing to play messenger for you; is there anything you would like us to tell your family for you?"

End chapter.

**X0x0x0x0x0x**

Ah, this chapter gave me a headache lol. I have _a lot_ of rough drafts for chapter 5. I kept changing the scenarios and it all was a giant mess, until finally, this idea came to me.


	6. Message from Kagome part 2

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!

Gah, this was such a depressing chapter to type! There's pretty much no humor in it, but it gives _a lot _of information that was omitted from the previous chapters.

And I named Kagome's mommy Ikuko. :3 Doesn't she look like an Ikuko? I think she does.

Enjoy

* * *

Kagome could only stand frozen in shock.

She couldn't believe what she had just heard.

Should she pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming?

Zetsu, understanding the situation and the poor girl's feelings, calmly waited for the information to sink in, and for her response.

_'M-message? For my family? What do I say? What should I tell them? I miss you and I'm okay? Please don't worry about me?' _Kagome's thoughts began to race at a very quick speed with all the things that she wanted her mom and Souta and grandpa to know, and she really couldn't keep track of them all. Oh, where did she start?

After a while of silence, Zetsu decided to help her out. "Maybe you would like them to know that you are alright?"

"...yeah. That's probably a good start. Um..." She pondered on it for a couple more seconds. "Okay, I think I know what I want you to tell them." Kagome slowly lifted her head to look up at the green-haired man.

Zetsu was startled at the amount of emotion lingering in Kagome's pretty blue-gray eyes.

Like he said before, she would make a horrible shinobi. Not only did she not pay attention to her surroundings, but he could also tell that she had a habit of putting her emotions out on full open display, like she was doing right now.

Not something a ninja should or would do.

However, regardless of that, there was just..._something_ about her that was _real_. There was something about her that just made him feel at _peace, _a feeling he hadn't felt in a long, long time. A feeling most of the Akatsuki members hadn't felt in a long, long time. Or any other shinobi for that matter. They were trained to wipe out and annihilate those sorts of emotions.

But...with this girl, it felt like it was _okay _have those feelings again.

Her gentle aura was just so soothing and calming...

He was beginning to see why Leader had been so stern on having her join their gloomy organization.

She was the light in this world of darkness.

In _their _world of darkness.

"Okay, tell them...I said that I'm fine, they don't have to worry about me, um, I hope they're all okay and..." Her voice lowered down to whisper, and her eyes filled with tears and her vision blurred, "tell them that I love them all. Very, very much."

"Very well." _"Will do." _Zetsu answered before—

"Oh, wait!" Yelled Kagome, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned back around, wondering what the girl wanted.

"Um...it's just, there's a slight possibility that my mom won't believe you, you know? I mean, I've been missing for awhile and all of a sudden, this _guy _pops out of nowhere and has this message from me for her, it just sounds a little odd, don't you think?"

"_Your point...?"_

Kagome blushed. "Well," Zetsu blinked as the girl brought her arms up and grasped a black and white rosary around her neck. She took it off and gave it to him. "Here. Give that to her. She should be able to tell that you're not lying if you give that to her."

Zetsu examined the necklace before placing it in his pocket. _'This girl is just full of surprises.' _His black half commented.

'Yes.' His white half agreed before smiling at Kagome and disappearing out of sight, leaving her all by herself with only her sadness as company. 'She is.'

A couple of tears escaped and trailed down her rosy cheeks before Kagome sniffed and wiped her eyes, not wanting the tears to lead to full out bawling.

She didn't want to cry, she really didn't. She had to be strong. She had to be _strong_ or else—

A small whimper escaped her and small, dainty hands went up to cover her leaking eyes.

Who was she kidding? She missed her family like _hell, _and she was pretty sure they were worrying themselves to death, wondering what had happened to her.

Well...

Here she was, in an organization of nine other members—8 of who were male—doing nothing other than talking to whoever wanted to talk, spending time with anyone who had time to be spent, and just living her life trapped in a mad, mad world.

What was her purpose for being here? Why had leader even chosen _her _in the first place? It made absolutely no sense to her, but then again, nothing lately had been making much sense.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she sniffed once more and wiped the remaining moisture from her eyes before heading back to her room, having completely forgotten where she had been headed in the first place.

She had _a lot_ to think about.

* * *

"Damn them! Damn those fucking, no-good, useless liars to hell!!" Screamed an angry male as he punched a nearby tree. His brute strength combined with his endless worry and frustration ended up knocking the whole thing down. He was not satisfied with just knocking one down, but he leaped up into another tree to mope and sulk over his failure to find his closest friend anyway.

"Why can't we find her Miroku?" Asked a depressed Shippo. This was the longest he had ever gone without seeing Kagome. And he didn't like it one bit. Kagome had always been the one to comfort him—to comfort all of them, when they needed to be comforted. She was the one who always provided a smile when everything seemed hopeless...but without her, _everything_ seemed hopeless.

He knew that the girl he considered his family was capable of taking care of herself but there was always that possibility that someone much too strong had gotten to her and—

No.

NO!

He couldn't think like that!! Shippo rapidly shook his head, willing those awful thoughts to go away.

Meanwhile, Miroku let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know, Shippo. I really don't know." The man sat down, leaning against a tree.

It just didn't make any sense. How could Kagome just disappear and not turn up in over 2 weeks? Usually, they found her on the same day she was kidnapped, but this was not turning out to be the case. On top of that, there were no witnesses who had seen Kagome prior to or after the kidnapping.

So what happened?

He tried to recall anything that might help.

He, Inuyasha and Shippo had been out on an errand...Kagome had stayed behind...she had mentioned something about collecting herbs for Kaede...they were gone for maybe 3 hours...they return to a hysterical mom trying to locate the whereabouts of her missing daughter...said hysterical mom had tearfully asked them to go and find her daughter...

Miroku sighed once again. Still nothing that would help.

He didn't know what they would do if they didn't find Kagome soon. Her mom was just a breakdown waiting to happen at this point, Inuyasha acted like a barbarian without Kagome here to calm him down, Shippo was looking frailer than usual....

She had been the one to bring all of them together. And if she was gone from their lives forever... No, the thought was just too depressing.

Much, much too depres—

Inuyasha was suddenly back on the ground right in front of him and Shippo, but facing away from them and Miroku instantly shot up to his feet. "What? What is it?!" He asked.

The half-demon didn't say anything. He took another sniff, thinking he had imagined the scent at first, out of depression. But no, it was right there—faint, but still there.

"Kagome's scent...is nearby." Inuyasha quietly said, in obvious disbelief.

Shippo looked up with wide turquoise eyes, filled with shock. Why couldn't he smell Kagome? He was a full demon, meaning he should have smelled Kagome way before Inuyasha, who was only a half demon! He tried sniffing the air as hard as he could, but still could come up with nothing.

Miroku's eyes were wide too. "Kagome's scent? Does that mean she's in the area?!" He asked with hope in his voice.

"I don't, I don't know! But we're gonna go find out: come on!" Inuyasha commanded before running off to where Kagome's scent was the strongest.

Ignoring his inner conflict, Shippo jumped on Miroku's shoulder before he too headed off in the direction Inuyasha had gone.

* * *

No words could describe how Higurashi Ikuko felt at the moment.

Depressed couldn't even begin to cover it. Angry was too weak. Scared was also too weak...

A sigh escaped her lips as she looked around the seemingly empty house. Usually, there was laughter and chatter coming from upstairs, or wherever her two children decided to spend time together.

Not anymore.

For the past two weeks, life had been empty in the Higurashi household, and the Higurashi matriarch just did not know what to do.

Her worry kept her up at night, and it kept her youngest, Souta, up as well.

He missed his older sister and she missed her daughter. And what was worse was that they had no answers to the many questions that plagued them.

How did a person just disappear like that?

She refused to believe that anything bad had happened to Kagome. She absolutely refused to believe that. If there was one thing she knew about her daughter, it was that Kagome was _strong. _Much more than people gave her credit for. And it was that knowledge that kept her hope alive.

"Mama?"

Tired brown eyes looked up to find her son standing in the doorway of the living room. "Yes, Souta?"

He was silent for a few moments. "Have you heard anything from her yet?"

"No...not yet."

The disappointment that filled his blue eyes broke her heart. "Oh....okay." He said before walking towards her, and plopping right next to her on the couch.

Ikuko willed her tears to go away. It wouldn't help Souta any to see her break down.

Wrapping an arm around the ten year old's shoulders, she brought him closer to her, and was about to try and cheer him up, when something moving on the floor caught her eye.

It stopped.

And right before their eyes, a black and white man with green hair that appeared to have been swallowed by a Venus Fly trap came up from the floor and materialized in front them.

Souta nearly fainted right then and there, but Ikuko was stronger than that, and she hid her son behind her. She knew that screaming and trying to forcefully take control of the situation would not help. It could possible get them killed, which she really didn't want to happen. So, with fearful eyes, she stared at the strange-looking man.

"My, my. Now I can see where Kagome gets all that beauty from." The man spoke.

Ikuko felt her heart stop. "Did you just say—"

"_Kagome. Yes. I must say, that was a very unique name choice for your daughter. A perfect fit."_ The man spoke again, only this time, his voice was different.

It took Ikuko a couple of seconds to find her voice. "Do you have any idea where—"

Zetsu chose to interrupt her again. "Regardless of whether I do know where she is or not, I have a message from her to you."

Souta chose that moment to speak up. "A message? From Kagome?! Really? What is it?!" For some reason, even though he was looking directly at Zetsu's face, which under any other circumstance would frozen him in fear, he found that he wasn't scared. He was willing to put away his fear, if it meant hearing some information about or from his older sister.

His mother looked from him back to Zetsu, also awaiting his answer.

"_She said," _

"To please not worry about her, she is alright."

"_And," _

"To take care of yourselves."

"_And..." _

Zetsu smiled. "She loves you guys very, very much."

Higurashi Ikuko broke down. Thick, mournful sobs escaped her mouth and the tears just flowed out, revealing all the sorrow she had been holding in for the past two weeks. It didn't matter to her that the man standing in front of her had no proof that her daughter had indeed given him that message.

It sounded like something Kagome would say.

And for now...that was enough.

She didn't know how long she cried.

But, by the time she was done, she noticed that only her and Souta remained in the room.

She wiped some tears away before apologizing and standing up. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to break down like that. It's been a rough couple of weeks."

Souta remained silent.

"I—"

Ikuko stooped talking when Souta held out his palm. "Souta?"

Slowly, his hand opened, and when the Higurashi matriarch saw what was inside, she felt like bawling all over again.

In his hand, Souta held a black and white rosary.

The rosary that Kagome had been planning to give to Inuyasha.

"I told him he was lying when he said that that message was from Kagome. But then he smiled at me and gave me this. He said that she gave it to him to give to us."

Sniffling, Ikuko took the beads from her son. It was faint, but she could still feel some of Kagome's power that resided within the necklace and that meant that she was alright.

Kagome was okay.

"Mama?"

A sad smile lifted her lips, and for in the first time in a while she felt relieved. "Well, you heard what Kagome wants us to do. So let's stop worrying and think about good things, alright? I'm positive now that Kagome will be just fine."

"But, how can you be so sure that he was telling he truth? You saw how creepy that guy looked! How do we know that he wasn't—!"

"Shh," She silenced her son's rant. "Now, we both know how Kagome is. I bet that the reason she's not here with us right now is because she's helping someone. Someone who needs a lot of help. And Kagome, being as kind as she is, can't ignore a person in need, and she is with that person, helping them as much as she possibly can."

Souta considered his mom's words. He supposed that did make sense. "...Do you really think she's okay?"

"Mmhm." But the sad smile didn't disappear. "I know she is."

End of Chapter.

* * *

dun dun dun dun. Believe it or not, there aren't that many chapters left. :(

But, I already started a new story! It's called Daybreak! Go read it? :D


	7. The melancholy of Kagome Higurashi

**Disclaimer; I own nothing!**

**

* * *

**

"Knock, knock."

Kagome looked up. Then back down, then up again when the person on the other side of the door repeated the words, "knock, knock."

Well, that was certainly a new way to get a person's attention.

A sigh escaped Kagome's lips as she got up from her bed and went to go open the door.

She wasn't expecting a bouquet of paper flowers to be shoved in her face. She shook away the strange feel of the pointed tips of the paper flowers and instantly regretted it when she felt one of the tips sink and cut into her sensitive flesh.

"Ow!"

"You shouldn't so careless with paper, you know. It cuts."

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," Kagome muttered before looking up—_way_ up—to meet the beady grayish eyes of her flower giver. "Oh, I remember you. You're the guy who thinks all women know how to work in a kitchen."

The fact that he had blue skin, resembled a shark and was a giant compared to her didn't faze her in the slightest bit.

Kisame grinned, almost baring his sharp teeth. "Isn't that the way its always been?"

Kagome lightly glared at him. "No! It depends on the woman, believe it or not."

"Believe it or not, the man is responsible for providing for his family. So isn't it natural for the woman to be in charge of making meals for the family?"

"That doesn't mean..." Kagome stopped mid sentence and frowned at him. Why was he so set on proving that all women were... oh well, whatever floated his boat, she guessed. Her eyes then traveled to the bouquet in his hands. She was much more interested in that than what they were currently talking about now. "What are the flowers for?"

"These, little one, are for you," Kisame said before handing her the bouquet. "It's a gift from... an anonymous person, if you will."

"Aw, that's no fun! You're not even gonna tell me who sent them?" Kagome asked with a cute pout.

"Nope, that's confidential. But I will tell you that Konan-san was the one responsible for making them."

"Konan-san? ...I haven't met her yet." Kagome looked down at the pink, blue, yellow and white sheets expertly folded to create a rather impressive display of lilies. They were so pretty!

"No surprise there; no one ever really sees her around."

"Well then, how am I supposed to thank her?"

Kisame frowned a little at that. "Eh... I don't know."

"That's great. Oh well, I'll figure it out... are you sure you don't wanna tell me who gave me these?" Kagome tried once again to get Kisame to reveal the mystery person.

To no avail though since all he did was laugh. "Sorry princess! No can do."

"Aww, come on! Pretty please?" She asked once again. This time though, she put on her puppy dog face. It **never** failed! Especially when she used it on guys.

Kisame grinned before ruffling the girl's raven hair.

"Hey!" Exclaimed Kagome as she tried to remove his hand from her long locks.

"That look may work on others, princess, but you forget; I'm a S-rank criminal. Cute things don't really affect me," Kisame proudly stated.

"You're no fun," Kagome muttered as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Again, I'm an S-ranked criminal. My life is based on killing others; that's my fun."

After he said that, Kisame immediately noticed how Kagome's mood became... melancholic. Oh boy, he hoped she didn't start crying because he sure as hell had no idea how to deal with girls—teenage girls especially—and their drama.

"Sometimes I forget I'm living with a bunch of criminals..." Kagome softly whispered as she picked at the petals of the fake flowers, but Kisame still heard.

He looked at her incredulously.

How did one _forget_ they were living with a bunch of murderers?

This Kagome was a strange one, that was for sure.

"Kagome-chan~ where are you?"

Kagome's blue-gray eyes comically widened before she looked in the direction that the voice had come from.

"That's—!"

"Tobi," Kisame sighed. He really had no desire to deal with—

His thoughts were abruptly cut off when Kagome grabbed his hand and pulled him inside her room before slamming the door shut while he "gracefully" fell to the floor. She placed a finger in front of her lips, gesturing for Kisame to be quiet as Tobi came closer and closer.

But Kisame only stared at her in shock. He must have been a foot and a half taller than the girl (she was tiny!) and he was definitely a lot bigger than her; so how the hell had she managed to throw him in here so effortlessly!

It was just baffling to him!

"Kaaggoommee-chaaaan! I know you're here!" Tobi exclaimed from behind the door.

Kagome looked down at Kisame (who still looked shocked) before placing the flowers on her dresser and tip toeing over to him.

"Can you do me a favor?"

Even if only for a few seconds, Kisame pushed away his confused state of mind. "What is it?"

"Distract Tobi for me, please," she whispered, "just for a few seconds so that I can escape."

"Escape?" Kisame chucked. "You don't like Tobi?"

"Of course I like Tobi!" Kagome all but yelled.

A sound of excitement escaped Tobi from the other side of the door. "I just heard you, Kagome-chan! I know you're in there! Open up!"

Kagome winced and whispered, "I just don't want to deal with him right now," and Kisame understood. After all, Tobi tended to get on everybody's nerves.

"Alright." He said before getting back up on his feet. He still was baffled by Kagome's strength but he would ponder about it some other time. He had some distracting to do now.

"Oh, thank you, Kisame-san!" Kagome said before giving the blue man a quick hug, shocking him even more.

A faint red colored Kisame's cheeks, but before Kagome could see, he stepped out of her room and quickly caught Tobi's attention.

"Kisame-san... why were you in Kagome-chan's room? And why are you blushing?" the boy in the orange mask then let out a dramatic gasp and took a step back. That was when Kagome quietly stepped out of her room and began to quietly tip toe down the hall. "K-Kisame-san! Don't tell me you and Kagome-chan are... secret _lovers_?

Kagome nearly fell on her face.

Knowing where Tobi was going with this, Kisame glared at him. "No, Tobi, we're not."

"Oh, you're in denial!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Just because we're S-ranked criminals doesn't mean we don't have hearts, Kisame-san! So if you and Kagome-chan are—"

"Tobi! Listen to yourself! Kagome and I are not—"

"No, don't say it! Oh Kagome-chan! I approve of anything you choose to do!" Tobi cried as he burst into Kagome's room only to find... no Kagome in there. His head darted back and forth and he even got on his knees to check under the bed before he left her room.

"Kisame-san, where is Kagome-chan?" he asked.

"Not here," was all Kisame said before turning away from the idiot and walking in the opposite direction, ready to go rest in his room. He had done what he was supposed to do, and he had gotten a good idea of what Kagome was like.

She was a sweetheart (with a temper). She had said nothing about his strange appearance, proving that she didn't fear him. Sure, she had faltered in her step when Tobi had suggested that they were "secret lovers" but he was gonna say that was just from the absurdity of Tobi's conclusion. No wonder Kagome wanted to avoid his presence. Fortunately, she had managed to escape; she had successfully made it out of her room without Tobi noticing.

For a girl who wasn't a ninja, that was pretty impressive.

Kisame grinned as he made his way into his own room.

He couldn't wait to see how this all worked out. After all, a pretty girl surrounded by males (three of which happened to be close to her age) and living under the same roof—there was _bound_ to be drama.

He just hoped Tobi didn't open his mouth and blab out his stupid lie to everyone that he and Kagome were "lovers"...

* * *

She was just a few steps away from the safe zone AKA the living room. And she was going to make it in one piece!

She was practically running and just a step from entering the golden room when she felt something collide into her back.

"Found you, Kagome-chan!"

Aw, damn it! And she was so close too...

Kagome would tumbled onto the floor had it not been for the pair of arms that caught her.

"What the hell are you doing, hm?"

"Oh, Deidara-senpai!"

The blond looked at him in annoyance before lifting Kagome upright and pushing Tobi off of her.

"Stop being an idiot, Tobi!"

"Tobi is not being an idiot! Tobi just wanted to let Kagome-chan know he approves of her relationship with Kisame-san!"

Kagome blanched while Deidara looked at Tobi like he was on drugs. "What?"

"Kisame-san and Kagome-chan are together!"

A mortified Kagome began stuttering when Deidara turned to her for an explanation.

"A-all I have to say is it's not true! I-I don't even know where he got that idea!" Kagome said, a dark blush on her cheeks.

"Oh, Kisame-san came out of your room with a blush on his face! That's when Tobi knew," Tobi provided the info.

Now Deidara looked interested. "Seriously, hm?"

Tobi vigorously nodded his head. "Yes!"

"No!" Yelled Kagome, who felt like tearing out her hair.

Deidara seemed to think all of this over. "Wait, so you're into older men? Or is the whole abnormal appearance thing what turns you on, hm?"

"You don't seriously believe him, do you?"

"Hey, I'm just a artist; I don't know about girls and relationships and all that but the fact that a pretty little thing like you would be into a guy like Kisame is just... fucking weird."

"It's not even true though!"

"Denial is a heavy thing, Kagome-chan."

Kagome threw Tobi a death glare, which instantly made him shut up and cower in fear.

It was because of Tobi and his big mouth that she was in this awkward situation!

She should have just stayed in her room and ignored Kisame's _' knock, knock_s_'_... then all of this wouldn't have happened.

"You didn't answer my question, hm."

"That's because it's neither!"

"What are the three of you doing?"

Great! Now Itachi was going to find out of her and Kisame's non-existent secret relationship. Just great!

"Sounds like your partner and Kagome over here are together," responded Deidara.

Just like Deidara had done, Itachi looked at Kagome for an explanation.

Now, Kagome knew Itachi wasn't an idiot. So chances were he'd probably believe her if she told him what Tobi and Deidara were saying was not the truth. Maybe. Hopefully. "Itachi-san, don't believe them! It's a complete lie!" She said, on the verge of tears. Why were these guys being so difficult?

Just as Itachi was about to say something, someone else interrupted. "What's a complete and utter lie?" Asked Hidan as he too entered the room in his bloody glory.

Oh, it just kept getting better and better!

"Kagome-chan and Kisame-san are a couple!" repeated Tobi for the hundredth time.

Hidan looked disgusted. "What the fuck?" he looked at Kagome, "So you'll get together with a fucking _fish_ but when a normal looking guy tries to flirt with you you flip the fuck out?"

"That's what I was trying to ask," muttered Deidara.

"What does that even have to do with anything?" Kagome asked.

Hidan shook his head, ignoring what Kagome said. "That's just fucking wrong! How do you even describe in fucking words how wrong that this?"

Kagome glared at him. "Who are you to talk about what's wrong in this place? You stab yourself!"

"Because my religion demands it!"

"What is all this racket that you idiots have in here?"

Everyone turned at Kakuzu's arrival. While Deidara, Tobi and Hidan tried to talk over one another, Kagome let her head fall in defeat.

She... wasn't going to get through to them.

At least she had tried...

"Where is Kisame?" asked Itachi, now standing next to her and watching a verbal fight escalate between Hidan and Deidara with Tobi stuck in the middle.

"...I don't know," sighed Kagome. "His room, I'm guessing?"

Even though he was teasing her, he still sounded semi-serious when he said, "...he must be feeling lonely; why don't you go join him?"

"Yeah, that's funny," muttered Kagome as she crossed her arms across her chest and looked away from the ridiculous scene happening before her eyes.

She completely missed the way Itachi's lips slightly lifted upwards.

He knew what Tobi and Deidara were saying was a lie. Kisame wasn't the type to be interested in love or anything of the sort and he doubted Kagome was the type of girl to force a guy into a relationship. She was too nice for that.

But seeing her react to what was being said was rather amusing.

The last person to join the little party was Zetsu. White Zetsu had looked shocked when Tobi had quickly blurted out like a broken record the same thing he had told Hidan and Deidara while black Zetsu had said something along the lines of, "didn't we say something like this was going to happen?"

Kagome didn't even bother defending herself.

What was the point?

While Tobi was giving a speech of happiness and why everyone deserved it (and everyone else ignored him), Zetsu turned towards a surprisingly quiet Kagome.

"By the way, Kagome-chan. Did you get my flowers?"

End chapter.

* * *

mookie's note; hahah, hi! XD

I am _so_ sorry for making you guys wait _over_ half a year! That's just not right and I feel super bad! However, for making you guys wait so long, I made this chapter super long! And it was a lot of fun too; I felt like it was time to move from the gloominess to good times. :D and apparently, good times is when all the Akatsuki members pick on poor Kagome. XD


	8. How thoughtful of you

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**

* * *

**

The commotion in the room stopped.

Everyone turned to look at a content looking Zetsu, who was smiling at a wide eyed Kagome.

"Z-Zetsu-san," the blue-eyed girl tried speaking, "the flowers came from you?"

Just as Zetsu was about to reply, Hidan felt the need to interrupt him, and tell him, "You creepy, sick fuck." Then, as an afterthought, he looked at Kagome and asked, "What flowers?"

"Zetsu-san got Kagome-chan flowers? Oh, that's so nice!" Exclaimed Tobi as he clapped in joy.

"Zetsu _and_ Kisame? Go figure, the one girl we get likes the weird looking guys, hm," muttered Deidara as he glared at Zetsu, as if he had offended him.

Hidan also had no problem adding in his two cents to that too. He directed his glare towards Kagome. "Seriously! Are you with Kakuzu too, you cheap slu—!"

"It has nothing to do with that!" Finally yelled Kagome, angry that 1. they were completely bashing on Kisame and Zetsu just because they looked different than they did, and 2. they were insinuating that she was stupid and desperate enough to get in a relationship with not one guy, but _two_! She would definitely never do something like that!

Not one to ever shut up, Hidan smirked as he bent down so that he was face to face with the short girl. "You don't get it, do you? Don't you find it _odd_ that the creepy bastard would send you flowers? He wants to get in your pants, princess."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Kagome exclaimed as she shoved her finger in Hidan's chest and poked him, forcing him back as she began walking forward while all the other members there watched. "You can't just say things like that when you don't know what's going on, you jackass! You don't know why he really gave me the flowers! You're just assuming things in that dirty, warped mind of yours!" She exclaimed.

True, she didn't exactly know why Zetsu had given her the flowers, but she at least had an idea that it had to do with her being homesick. Hidan was just completely blowing this out of proportion.

_Way_ out of proportion!

Of course, despite her yelling in an extremely loud voice, Hidan hadn't paid attention to a damn word that she had said.

"I like feisty ones," was all he said with a smirk.

Kagome gave him a death glare, and she was about to hit him, when Itachi appeared behind her and wrapped his arm around her upper body, pinning both her arms down.

"Don't let him upset you," The Uchiha muttered, holding the much smaller girl back from tearing apart the Jashinist. He didn't necessarily care about what happened to Hidan, but he figured Leader _would_.

Hidan's smirk evolved into a glare. "Oi, Uchiha! Don't get involved!" He exclaimed as he took a step forward. He was then hit in the head by an annoyed Kakuzu.

"Ow! Kakuzu, you ugly bastard! Why did you do that?"

"I've had enough of your stupidity," Kakuzu said in a stern voice before he looked at Itachi. "I say we let the girl kill him: he's been nothing but a nuisance lately and he deserves to be beaten down."

Itachi sighed and tightened his hold on Kagome: he could feel her trembling in anger. "Leader would not appreciate that decision," he said.

Kakuzu shrugged. "I would."

Tobi looked from Kakuzu to Hidan and then to Kagome."Um, no fighting please!"

Kagome let out a miserable sigh and slumped against Itachi.

She was tired. And hungry. And spent. She wanted to nap. She wanted to pull out her hair in frustration, because today had definitely been one of _those_ days.

She wanted to go _home_.

Yet...

_'Despite being a criminal... Itachi's aura is... so soothing.'_

Her eyes slowly began drifting shut, even as Hidan yelled at Kakuzu about being an asshole, and even as Tobi tried to restore the "peace" that he claimed usually resided within the Akatsuki Hideout.

What a joke... when one girl and nine, hell just _five_ guys hung out together, the chances of there being peace were slim.

Especially when that _one girl_ was as feisty and sassy as Kagome was, and when those _five guys_ had five different personalities and made life more difficult than it had to be.

But, she supposed, it kept things entertaining.

_'Mama... did you know hanging out with a bunch of S ranked criminals 24/7 is completely... exhausting...?' _was her last comprehensible thought before her mind shut down and she actually fell asleep in Itachi's hold. Itachi noticed her posture slacken and easily supported her weight.

"Kagome-chan!" Exclaimed Tobi when he noticed the girl's head fall forward, hiding her pretty face.

Deidara noticed too. "Itachi, you idiot, hm! You killed her!"

"No, I didn't," Muttered Itachi with a glare directed towards the blond as he went down on his knees so that Kagome was laying against him and not standing anymore.

Zetsu came closer to the Uchiha, his gaze curious. "Oh... she's asleep," Said white Zetsu in wonder.

"_How did she manage to fall asleep with Hidan yelling at the top of his lungs?" _Asked his darker half.

"Maybe Kagome-chan was really tired," answered Tobi.

Hidan turned towards them. "Tired? What has the bitch done to make her tired?"

He almost flinched at the heated looks everyone gave him. "What?"

"Well, I know she's mentally exhausted," said white Zetsu. "We visited her family to tell them that she is okay. Kagome didn't seem too troubled when we told her her mom broke down after hearing she was okay, but she was probably heartbroken to hear that. After all, no one wants to hear their mom is suffering. On top of all that, she's had to deal with all of us: we're not the easiest batch of people to deal with, you know."

"_Which is where the flowers come in," _said black Zetsu._ "We figured she needed something to feel better. Girls typically like pretty things, so we asked Konan if she would make some flowers for us to give to Kagome." _

Tobi nodded his approval. "Oh, that's so thoughtful of you, Zetsu-san!"

"I could have made her something _pretty_, hm," pouted Deidara.

"...Oi, somebody take the chick to her room already," muttered Hidan while scratching the top of his head. There was definitely guilt evident in his voice. "I doubt she wants to sleep on the floor against Uchiha all day."

Tobi clapped. "Oh, Hidan-san! How thoughtful of you!"

"Shut the fuck up!" The male responded, embarrassed.

"I'll take her, hm!" Said Deidara.

"I don't think so," immediately replied Itachi.

Hidan scowled. "Fuck it, I'll take her!"

Itachi didn't look any more favorable towards him. "Another unwise decision."

"_I'll_ take her," interrupted a new voice.

Tobi exclaimed excitingly, "Kisame-san!"

The blue-skinned man walked into the living room.

"It took you long enough to show yourself, Kisame," Itachi said.

He had known Kisame had been standing there since practically the very beginning.

"Well, I was going to come it earlier... but it sounded like a war zone, so I figured I should wait for all the gunfire to stop," Kisame said with a smirk. He looked down at the sleeping Kagome. "I doubt Princess is asleep: if you guys are yelling like _that_ and she isn't waking up, she _must_ have passed out."

Tobi immediately pointed the finger. "It's all Hidan-san's fault."

"What? Tobi, you fucker, I'll—"

"Can we just _stop_ with all the yelling?" Asked Zetsu. "I have a headache and you're gonna wake Kagome-chan up."

As if she had heard that, Kagome slightly stirred in her sleep and made a small noise of discomfort.

Once again, all the commotion stopped.

Kisame couldn't help but chuckle as he grabbed Kagome from Itachi.

"We're all whipped."

* * *

Kagome woke up a few hours later.

"W-where am I?" she asked herself, looking around the darkened room that she didn't recognize for a couple of seconds.

Suddenly, she remembered everything.

The flowers.

The boys.

The fighting.

The _drama_.

"Ugh, it follows me _everywhere_!" exclaimed Kagome, wide awake now as she glared and pouted at the wall directly in front of her.

That's when her eyes caught the flowers that had pretty much started _everything_.

She sighed and got off the bed.

"I never did thank Zetsu-san for them..." She muttered as she grabbed onto the stems and lifted them up to look at the paper lilies.

_'I really should though. It was so nice of him. I'll just have to find him,' _She thought.

She opened the door to leave, before she got a sudden impulse to check the clock.

_2:34 A.M. _

She blinked.

_'Yeah, scratch that Kagome, he's probably not even awake... if he even sleeps to begin with...' _

"Great," whispered Kagome as she looked back out into the hallway.

For some reason, something inside her brain told her to look down.

She did.

And she was completely surprised to find five vases of flowers waiting for her there.

Later on:

Zetsu had just returned from a long day's work of spying on certain enemies of the Akatsuki.

Fortunately, he had managed to get all the information he needed, and so, had been able to return to Akatsuki HQ quicker then he had anticipated.

He entered his room briefly, to obtain a folder he needed to give to leader, when he noticed a small slip of paper resting on his bed.

It was folded in half, and on the top it said;

_To Zetsu-san. _

The handwriting was much too pretty and delicate to belong to any of the male Akatsuki members. He walked to his bed and picked the note up.

"That's Kagome's scent," he briefly noted before he opened it.

_Dear Zetsu-san, _

_Thank you very, very much for the flowers. _

_(And for letting my family know that I'm okay)_

_I really appreciate the gesture, and while the other "geniuses" of the Akatsuki thought it was creepy, I thought it was really sweet, and I know you were only being kind and thoughtful. _

_You **weren't** being a creeper. _

_Please do not be discouraged by what they said. _

_Because I think you are very nice. =_D

_In fact... I think you're all nice. _

_You just have weird ways of showing it. _

_Sincerely, _

_Kagome. _

End of Chapter.

* * *

And there's your update! :D

Unfortunately, this chapter is a lot shorter than normal, but that couldn't be helped. The next one for sure will be longer! I promise!


	9. The Story of Our Lives

Is this an, an... _update_?

Yes.

It is. :D

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! (especially not the story that Kagome tells! Heheh.)**

**

* * *

**

Higurashi Ikuko blinked in surprise when she heard three distinct (but recognizable) voices calling her name.

"Ikuko-san!"

"Ikuko!"

"Mama!"

The Higurashi matriarch let out a sigh and placed down the dish she had been washing when her front door suddenly went flying open.

"Where's Kagome?" Immediately asked Inuyasha, who had been the first to enter the kitchen. His golden eyes searched the room, but he only saw Kagome's mother, who was standing there with an amused look on her pretty face.

She smiled at him and tried to hide her giggles.

Just as he was about to ask what was so funny, Inuyasha suddenly went flying forward and landed on his face, courtesy of Miroku who was also looking around the room for Kagome. "Kagome? Are you here? Where is she?" The violet eyed man asked.

Shippo jumped off Miroku's shoulder and ran into Ikuko's arms when Inuyasha stood up and started shouting at Miroku about being a klutzy, damn fool. "Is Kagome not here?" he asked with wide eyes.

"...no, Shippo. She's not." the mother of two answered somberly.

Inuyasha and Miroku stopped yelling at each other.

"What? But her scent is here? Where the hell—?" Sputtered Inuyasha.

Ikuko's brown orbs slightly widened before she pulled back her yellow sleeve to reveal some beads that she had wrapped around her wrist.

The same beads that Kagome had sent back to them.

"You were most likely smelling this, Inuyasha-kun," she said as she showed the boys the beads.

Inuyasha leaned down to sniff at it.

Yeah... that was most definitely Kagome's scent.

"So... Kagome hasn't been here yet..." the silver haired boy muttered, trying to his disappointed face.

"No, I'm afraid not."

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "But Ikuko-san, how did you get those beads if Kagome wasn't the one who gave them to you?" He asked. It just didn't make any sense to him. Was Ikuko lying to them? She certainly wasn't the type of person who would do something like that.

Wise brown orbs met concerned violet.

Ikuko slightly smiled and her slim fingers tightly clenched the beads. "She had a friend drop them off."

* * *

A soft giggle escaped Kagome's lips as she placed the vases of flowers she had received a couple of days ago on her dresser.

She felt giddy and like an eight year old again, with all the notes and gifts being passed back and forth. She would have never guessed that a bunch of S-ranked criminals would be so thoughtful about an emotional, teenage girl like her. It was unexpected, but it was definitely nice.

Despite all that happened though, she had yet to run into Konan or Leader: she hadn't even seen Leader since the day he made her join and she most definitely had never gotten a small glimpse of Konan. They really were people who enjoyed hiding in the shadows.

As she left her room and began walking down the hall, she heard a loud clap of thunder. The hallways were only lit by weak light bulbs that were separated every 5 feet, so they kept eerily flashing when lightning lit the sky. It was _creepy_.

Now, she wasn't scared of lightning. Or thunderstorms in general. In fact, the only things that truly scared her were bugs and losing those closest to her. However... it was still hella creepy, watching the hall light up before becoming dark again.

She didn't like it. Not one bit at all.

'Who's room is closest to mine?' She mentally asked herself, taking a few steps forward. 'Maybe I'll just go hang out with them, because I definitely don't want to be by myself.' A squeak escaped her mouth and she clenched her eyes shut when another clap of thunder shook the hideout.

She was startled when she heard someone call her name.

"...Kagome."

The blue eyed girl turned around and was surprised to see a woman standing behind her. She was beautiful. And her eyes were a golden color, like Inuyashas.

She blinked in realization. 'Oh, this must be...'

"You're Konan-san, right?" She timidly asked, wincing at the crackling of the thunder.

Konan blinked at her reaction. "Yes."

"Oh. Well, it's nice to finally meet you. I've been meaning to thank you for making me those—!" Kagome stopped talking when a loud 'BOOM' once again shook the Akatsuki hideout. "Flowers," the girl weakly finished.

Konan stared at her. This was her first time meeting the girl that had so easily caught the attention of all the Akatsuki members. She could see why they were all so obsessed with her.

"If you are afraid of thunderstorms, then shouldn't you be back in your room, rather than wandering the halls?" the older woman asked.

Kagome sheepishly smiled. "Well, yeah... I just... I don't want to be by myself."

Konan's stoic expression didn't change. "And so, you would rather be in the presence of a criminal?"

Kagome blinked. Well... when she said it like _that_...

She looked down at the ground and sighed. "I know... that they're all killers. And I know that they've done some pretty bad things. However, that doesn't mean that I should try to hide from them, because 1. I _can't_ and 2... they're ninja: they're just doing what they're supposed to do." She looked up with determination and _trust_ in her pretty blue eyes. "And I refuse to not trust someone unless they give _me_ a reason _not_ to trust them."

Konan stared at her.

Now, she knew why Pein had wanted Kagome to join the organization. And now, she understood what Zetsu had been trying to say when he had been describing his encounter with the strange girl.

The feelings Kagome was bringing into the Akatsuki were new... but they were welcome.

Kagome truly was... a long needed breath of fresh air.

"Come," Konan suddenly ordered, walking forward and passing the confused girl.

Kagome stared after her before quickly following.

Konan stopped in front of a door, and knocked.

Kagome watched with wide blue eyes as the door opened to reveal...

"Well, well, if it isn't the two pretty flowers of the Akatsuki," Hidan said with a smug smirk on his handsome face. "How can I help you?" he asked in a mocking manner.

"Just keep her company: don't touch her, or do anything to harm her," Konan said, slightly glaring at the silver haired man in warning.

"Me? Harm Kagome? Why I'm fucking insulted," Hidan scoffed.

"I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to her," said Kakuzu as he grabbed Kagome's arm and led her towards the living room. He knew that letting Kagome go in Hidan's room was a big no go.

"What the fuck, Kakuzu?" Hidan questioned, following after them.

Kakuzu glared back at Hidan. "Shut up, you and Kagome alone in a room is just asking for trouble."

Knowing that Kakuzu was probably right on this one, Konan resumed on the way she had been before she had ran into Kagome while the 'zombie duo' began arguing and Kagome merely watched, still being led by Kakuzu.

She needed to go talk to Pein.

* * *

"You know... arguing isn't necessarily the best way to deal with things," said Kagome, trying to break the awkward silence that surrounded the trio that consisted of her, Hidan and Kakuzu.

"This isn't fucking 'let's all become a bunch of happy go lucky fuckers who have to get along.' We're men, we fight—get over it." muttered Hidan, glaring at the darkness that surrounded them. Obviously, he was still mad about losing the fight earlier.

"Okay, okay. Geez. I was only speaking from experience," Kagome muttered, because she had had enough arguments to last a lifetime. Mainly with a certain amber-eyed male...

"Um, so, why are we going to the living room?" She decided to ask, not caring who answered as long as someone did. She just wanted to stop her thoughts from remembering anything more about her friends...

Kakuzu was the one who answered. "You'll soon learn that most of the Akatsuki members enjoy being anywhere but their rooms."

She thought about that.

And, like she had suspected after Kakuzu had told her that tiny bit of info, most of the Akatsuki members were in the living room.

And she didn't feel scared anymore.

"Oh, Kagome-chan! Kakuzu-san! Hidan-san! You have finally joined us!" Exclaimed Tobi.

Kagome giggled and let Tobi grab her arm and drag her over to the couch. He sat her down and clapped his hands. Hidan sat near her and Kakuzu left, muttering something about finances. "Now that everyone's here, someone should tell a story!"

"I vote we have Kagome tell us a story, hm," suggested Deidara, crossing his arms behind his head.

Kagome blinked. "Me?"

Kisame nodded. "Yeah, princess. Tell us a story."

Itachi leaned back against the couch, waiting for her to begin while Tobi enthusiastically bounced in his seat.

"Well, I think I know a couple of good ones..." Kagome brought a hand up to her chin in thought. She thought about what she wanted her story to be for a couple more seconds before she nodded. "Okay, I got it!"

It became silent as the Akatsuki members waited for her to begin.

Kagome smiled. "Once upon a time, there was a girl named Kobayashi Rin. She was a normal girl, who didn't believe in ghosts, or demons or anything like that. However, that all changed on her 15th birthday. You see, her family lived on a sacred shrine, and on that shrine was a well that supposedly had there for over 500 years and had been used to dispose of demon corpses. On that day, Rin noticed that the door of the small building that covered the well was partially open. She went to go close it when she heard something rattle inside. Curious, she went to investigate, and to her surprise, it was coming from inside the well. Just as she was about to open the covers that closed the opening of that well to see what was causing the noise, they flew open by themselves, and a centipede woman came out. The woman took one look at Rin before her arms grabbed at her, lifted and dragged her inside the well."

Kagome stopped talking. The way everyone was intently staring at her made her want to laugh.

"Did the centipede woman eat Rin, Kagome-chan?" Tobi asked seriously.

Kagome giggled. "No, she didn't. The centipede woman said she felt a strange power inside Rin. Rin wasn't okay with the woman being so touchy feely with her, so just as she shoved her off, a strange pink light emerged from her hand, and one of the centipede's arms disintegrated. A startled Rin fell to the bottom of the well. She remained there for a while before she looked up and screamed for help, hoping someone had heard her yelling. But instead of seeing a wood ceiling, she saw the clear blue sky. Confused, Rin pulled her self out of the well. She instantly knew something was wrong. However, she noticed a giant tree—one that she recognized as the Goshinboku, the same tree that resided on her family grounds." Kagome closed her eyes, the smile still on her face. "Elated to see something familiar to her, Rin began running towards it. However, she was once again surprised once she found it. Unlike the Goshinboku at her house... this one had a boy pinned to it's trunk."

* * *

"Why is she here, Pein?" Konan asked the orange-haired male standing near the window, staring at the pouring rain. She knew the answer, she just needed to hear it Pein's lips.

He remained silent for a while, as usual. He was the type of person who let silence provide the answers to a person's questions.

"Because we need her. Because _they_ need her," he finally answered.

An image of Kagome's scared face passed through Konan's mind. "She is just a child; can she really handle being in the Akatsuki?"

Thunder shook the land and lightning flashed across the sky one last time.

"Yes. She can."

And the rain stopped.

End of Chapter.

* * *

A/N: So, I've decided I won't make it into a Kagome/Akatsuki harem: there'll just be mentions and hints of the guys flirting and all that good stuff but no actual pairings. Yah...

Have a Happy New Years! :)


	10. We Have a Situation

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!

* * *

**

"Where did you hear that story you told us a couple of days ago?"

Kagome paused in her eating and looked behind her to see a calm Zetsu standing in the door way of the kitchen. She placed her fork down. "The one with Rin?" She asked.

Zetsu nodded and this time his black side spoke. "Yes, that one."

Smiling, Kagome watched as Zetsu walked over and sat two chairs away from her. She waited until he was seated before she began talking. "My grandpa told me that story. Actually, he's told me a lot of stories, stories he claims are true. I don't remember most of them, but for some reason, the one with Rin and her adventures 500 years in the past was the only one I ever bothered to remember."

"It did feature quite a bit of romance," said white Zetsu all knowingly. It was obvious to him that Kagome was a romantic. The way her eyes had filled with affection as she recited the deep love that Rin and Kohaku had felt for one another, despite Kohaku's old love who had died long ago being brought back to life, was a dead give away.

It was strange, actually: the way she had talked had made it seem like she knew all too well what Rin had gone through, and what it felt like to be in that sort of position.

It made him wonder.

"Yeah, that probably has something to do with it," Kagome replied, gazing off into space. Her thoughts didn't get to go very far because Tobi came running into the kitchen, waves of enthusiasm flowing off of him at an alarming speed.

"Kagome-chan, Kagome-chan! Look at what Deidara—!" Tobi started only to be cut off by a punch to the head, courtesy of the blond artist, who appeared about three seconds after his stupid partner had.

Deidara was livid, and with a death glare, he growled out, "what the hell is wrong with you, Tobi? You can't just run off with people's work, hm!"

Tobi flinched in fear. "I'm sorry, Deidara-senpai! I just wanted Kagome-chan to see—"

"She can see it when I'm done!" Deidara interrupted, roughly grabbing Tobi's arm and attempting to pry out the small sculpture he was clenching on to.

Curious and intrigued, Kagome stood up. "What'd you make?" She asked, cutely tilting her head to the side.

"Nothing," Deidara muttered, hoping she'd accept that answer.

"Oh, it's something alri—" began Tobi only to yelp in pain when Deidara dug his nails into his arm.

"Stop it!" Exclaimed Kagome in alarm as she ran over to the duo, and Zetsu could only watch the show, just waiting for the fireworks to explode.

After all, Deidara had a nasty temper.

And Kagome had a nasty temper.

He could only _imagine_ how bad it would get if the two of them got into an argument. And with Tobi in the middle...

Ignoring the warning Deidara was sending him with his glare, Tobi continued to dig his grave. "I'm 100% sure Deidara-senpai was inspired by your story, Kagome-chan! He only sculpted birds and fish and other simple animals like that before! But now, he's started making demons! Does this look familiar?" He asked, pushing away from Deidara to open his palm and reveal a clay figure of the infamous 'Mistress Centipede.'

Kagome's eyes widened in awe and surprise.

It looked exactly the way she had described her!

Deidara really did have an artists' mind.

"That's amazing!" she stated, causing Deidara to gaze at her.

"It's nothing," he muttered, trying to act like her compliment wasn't that big of a deal. Internally though, he was satisfied that someone _besides_ Tobi appreciated his art: he was satisfied that a _woman_ finally appreciated his art.

"It's not nothing: it's art!" Kagome exclaimed, reaching over to pick up the astonishing sculpture. "No, Kagome-chan!" Tobi dramatically gasped, pulling his arm back before throwing the sculpture against the wall, ultimately breaking 'Mistress Centipede.'

Kagome gasped, Zetsu sighed, and Deidara looked ready to kill Tobi.

"Don't worry, Kagome-chan, you're safe now!" Tobi happily told her, nodding his head affirmatively.

"What was I in danger of before?" Kagome asked, upset that Tobi had done that.

Tobi grabbed her two hands, clenching them tightly within his own. "Deidara-senpai loves explosives, Kagome-chan! His art is usually infused with chakra that he can detonate because he thinks that 'art is a blast' and Tobi knows that if you had grabbed the sculpture Deidara-senpai would have surely blown you up!"

Kagome's eyes widened, not rally understanding. "What?"

"Before this gets out of hand," cut in white Zetsu, noticing that Deidara was being _way_ too quiet (and that **wasn't** a good thing), "you should know, Kagome, that Deidara also has art that he does not explode. He's just an artist who creates sculptures and happens to incorporate it into his jutsu."

"Exactly!" Finally exclaimed Deidara. "I wouldn't have blown Kagome up you _fucking_ idiot, hm!" he hollered at Tobi.

"So much for keeping it from getting out of hand," muttered black Zetsu.

'Why do I always have some part in these fights?' thought Kagome, flinching when her hands were abruptly ripped from Tobi's hold, and said boy went flying across the room, courtesy of Deidara.

"What the hell is going on in here? All the shouting can be heard clear across the other side of the hideout," commented Kisame as he walked in. He frowned when Tobi roughly crashed into the wall he was closest to, causing it to crack, and for some bits of wall to fall off. The shelves attached to it didn't fare as well, and they ended up collapsing and everything that was on them crashed and broke on the floor. He looked over at the red faced Deidara and immediately understood the situation. "What, you couldn't wait until after Kagome was out of the room to beat Tobi up?" he asked.

He may have been a complete brute when it came to fighting, but even he knew it was common courtesy to not pick, engage or participate in a fight in front of a lady.

Deidara didn't seem to know of this, however, since his answer was quick. "No!"

"It's called... common... courtesy... Deidara-sen... pai," agreed Tobi in broken fragments as he lifted himself from the small amount of rubble that used to be a wall, unknowingly agreeing with Kisame's thoughts.

"Can we please just stop all the fighting?" Asked Kagome, running over to Tobi and helping him up. She couldn't believe this was all happening over some little thing!

...okay, maybe it wasn't over some little thing, but there were so many other better ways to deal with this!

To make things even better, Kakuzu walked in. Obviously, he knew something bad had happened since he was gazing intently at the rubble and the shards of glass and other contents that Tobi was still standing in.

He didn't look too happy about it either.

His gaze was then redirected towards them. His green eyes narrowed down in a glare. "Is it too much to ask for at least _one_ day when I don't have to spend money on replacing things that you guys break?"

Tobi pointed at Deidara. "He did it."

The blond fumed. "What?"

"Tobi-kun," chastised Kagome, lightly glaring at him before looking at Kakuzu. "I'm sorry, Kakuzu-san, this is all my fault."

_Someone_ had to be the bigger person and stop this mess from becoming any bigger than it already was.

Kisame frowned and Zetsu's eyes slightly widened.

Deidara and Tobi looked curiously at her. For once, they were completely silent.

Kakuzu easily dismissed her claim. "I highly doubt you're capable of throwing a full grown man across the room," he said.

Even though it wasn't exactly the best moment to be doing so, Kagome couldn't help but visualize a mini version of herself picking up Kakuzu and flinging him across the kitchen, just to prove him wrong.

That'd be pretty cool.

Remembering she still had to answer Kakuzu though, she came back to the present. "Um, well, you're right, but I—" her rant was cut off by Kakuzu. "Don't even bother. Deidara, Tobi. Clean up your damn mess," was all he said before he left the room.

"I don't get why you bothered trying to defend these two, Kagome," Kisame spoke, grabbing the glass of water he had intended to grab in the first place before being sidetracked into the whole argument.

The only thing he got out of all this was that Kagome really was too nice.

Tobi nodded. "Yeah Kagome-chan! Tobi and Deidara-senpai are idiots and like getting in trou—" his enthusiasm was cut off by Deidara hitting his head.

"The only idiot here is you, hm!" He raged, only to stop when Kagome placed a gentle hand on his arm.

Her blue-gray eyes stared stubbornly into his own before softening.

"I'll help you guys clean. No more fighting though, okay?"

Stubbornly, because he was Deidara and he didn't like to listen to other people's orders, the blond muttered a snippy, "fine."

It was kind of hard to say no to her.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the direction Kagome's scent leads to?" Shippo asked with a raised eyebrow as he stared at Inuyasha, who was sniffing at pretty much everything he could physically touch.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," the silver haired male replied, going from one tree to the other. "The thing is, her scent is really faint, so it's kinda difficult to exactly tell where it's coming from."

Shippo's green eyes narrowed down. "So you're making us go in circles?"

Inuyasha glared right back. "No I'm not making us go in circles, you idiot! Kagome's scent is here, I just can't tell _where_ exactly it's headed!"

Miroku sighed. "Come on now, let's all just calm down."

Both Shippo and Inuyasha sent each other one final nasty glare before looking away from one another. Inuyasha resumed sniffing around, and Shippo remained perched on Miroku's shoulder.

The little boy finally spoke after a few moments of silence. "...I hope we find Kagome. And I hope that when we do, she comes back with us."

To make Shippo feel better, Miroku reassured him, "I'm sure we'll find her this time, and even if she didn't want to come with us, Inuyasha would, without a doubt, drag her back, kicking and screaming. You know how the two of them are."

Shippo didn't look too convinced.

And he had good reason for that.

At this point, they would be lucky to even _see_ Kagome. However, they owed it to Kagome, to her family, and to themselves to at least try and find her.

However... it sounded a lot easier said than done, especially since even Inuyasha was having troubles pinpointing her scent. On top of that, there was no saying how she would react after having not seen them for a long time.

"I found it."

Miroku blinked and turned towards Inuyasha. "What?"

The half demon landed down next to him. "Where Kagome's scent is coming from. It leads into the forest," was all he said as he began sprinting into the deep depths of the forest.

"How are you so sure? Last time you found Kagome's scent, it didn't lead to Kagome," Shippo protested, a little hesitant because he didn't want to travel just to not find Kagome again.

Inuyasha didn't look back.

"I'm _sure _it's her this time_._"

* * *

It didn't take long for Kagome, Deidara and Tobi to finish cleaning the mess they had created.

As it turns out, Deidara and Tobi _could_ go a while without fighting.

To celebrate (and to indirectly console Deidara since he was undoubtedly still upset about Tobi destroying his work), Kagome offered to make them something.

"With what? Tobi the idiot over here broke the shelves that had all the ingredients that we had," Deidara scoffed.

Tobi shifted his feet. "Weeelll, Tobi wouldn't have broken the shelves if Deidara-senpai hadn't thrown them in the first place..."

They both blinked in surprise when Kagome smacked their arms.

"We are **not** going through this again," she declared, her mood and voice becoming darker. "We'll go to the store, and get what we need, and the two of you will stop fighting!" She yelled.

Now she knew what Miroku and Shippo felt like whenever her and Inuyasha argued.

And they argued just as much—if not more—than Deidara and Tobi did.

Tobi was quick to reply. "Yes, Kagome-chan," he piped, terrified of her temper.

Once again, Deidara took his time in answering. "...sure," he muttered.

He wouldn't admit that for a split second, he had been scared...

...but at least Kagome looked good when she was angry. _  
_

Her demeanor doing a complete 180, Kagome widely smiled. "Alright then, let's go to the store!" She cheered, grabbing the same arms she had hit and dragging the two Akatsuki members along.

She had no idea Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo were heading in the direction she was in.

End of chapter.

* * *

A/N: aaaahhhh! Did I do that? Did I really just do that?

...i did. =D


	11. A Mutual Understanding

**Thank you all for your reviews! **

And sorry for the long wait! I was definitely going to update _Daybreak_ first, but since this story is the more popular one, I decided to update this one instead.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Kagome's senses went into complete overdrive the moment she stepped outside.

She felt the strange, tingling sensation she usually felt whenever she felt someone's oncoming presence. And it was approaching her at a rapid speed.

What made the whole thing so odd was that she felt like she recognized the three auras approaching her. They were familiar, she knew that, but... for the life of her, she just couldn't figure out who it was.

She couldn't even harbor a guess.

"Kagome-chan?" called Tobi as he waved a hand in front of the stilled girl.

He got no response from her, as she was much too engrossed in her thoughts to pay any attention to her surroundings.

Tobi threw his hands up in alarm. "Kagome-chan!" He called out once again.

Realizing nobody was following behind him, Deidara looked back at his two companions, an irritated scowl on his face. "What the hell is taking so long, hm?"

"Kagome-chan isn't moving!" Tobi answered, once again waving his hands in front of the teenager. "Tobi thinks Kagome-chan is sick or something!"

With a roll of his eyes, Deidara began walking back towards them. Just as he came to a halt in front of the girl, he grabbed her shoulders and very lightly shook her. "Oi, Kagome!" He called.

Finally, Kagome's eyes darted quickly from left to right before widening at the sight of Deidara right in front of her.

Deidara's eyebrows loosened and his frown became less intense.

What was her problem?

He was completely caught off guard when Kagome suddenly placed a small hand on his chest and walked around him and looked into the deep forest.

After much thought, she could now harbor a guess.

"Inuyasha," she muttered in complete shook before she began running into the mass of trees at a surprisingly quick speed.

"Kagome-chan is running awaaaayyy!" Tobi exclaimed in horror before running after her. Deidara immediately began following after them.

No, Kagome wasn't running away. He didn't know how, but he knew that wasn't her intention.

Although... he wondered who the hell 'Inuyasha' was. And why Kagome was so determined to meet him.

...could it be that people had finally decided to find Kagome and take her back?

* * *

Inuyasha was not the type of person who liked to display ever single emotion he felt.

It wasn't because he wasn't a sensitive guy (because admittedly, he most definitely was) but it was due to the fact that as a child, and occasionally in the present too, his feelings had always gotten trampled on.

After all, nobody liked a half breed. Especially since the demons sealed inside jinchuriki generated so much fear, and none of the shinobi villages wanted to deal with any of that—Konohagakure especially. And this was _before_ the Kyuubi attack. As fate would have it though, Konoha was where he was born, and where he endured so much pain. His mother—who was a simple but beautiful civilian woman—couldn't endure it. So she decided that they would both move to a remote village just outside the border of Amegakure to escape _everything_.

He ended up hating it there too. Despite the village being inhabited by people completely different from those who lived in Konoha, people _still_ treated him like he was dirt. The only person who treated him with any kindness was the village healer, an old, but reliable woman named Kaede.

To Inuyasha, however, It felt like he would never escape the jeers, the harsh words, or the grim reality that because he was born half demon and half human, he would never be accepted.

Around the time he was seven, he began to accept his fate. If someone called him a derogatory name, he let them. If someone hit him, he let them. If someone questioned his existence, he let them.

He figured it was just better to not hope for a better life at that point.

However, his whole world was flipped around when he met a little girl by the name Higurashi Kagome.

She was kinda noisy. And a little too curious for her own good. And she was a total klutz. And really, really sensitive. Oh, and she _always_ managed to get into trouble, even though she never asked for it.

But she was the _sweetest_ little girl Inuyasha had ever met.

They became good friends throughout the years—maybe even best friends. People still picked on him, that was inevitable, but with Kagome by his side, Inuyasha found that it was a lot easier to deal with the pain (especially since the girl had a habit of telling people who mistreated him off).

Something he found not so easy to deal with though, was how possessive he was over his blue eyed friend. He **hated** it when she was nice to other guys—especially Miroku, but he couldn't do much about that because Kagome had already been friends with the lecherous monk before she had met him.

Before she had died of illness, his mother had told him that his possessiveness came from the fact that Kagome was his first true friend.

He thought there was more to it than that, but Inuyasha accepted it.

Anyways, what it all came down to though was that he truly cared for Kagome, and he just wanted what was best for her.

They fought _a lot, _but they would always reconcile and go on with their lives. This was a process that would happen again and again.

That was just the way their relationship worked.

And once he found her, he would give her the lecture of a lifetime. A lecture that she would **never** forget. One, because her mom was worried sick about her and two, because she had made him worried sick about her.

But, at this point, all he wanted to do was see her, and know that she was alright.

And judging by how strong Kagome's scent was—which meant she was nearby, he would get that chance.

His speed increased.

"Inuyasha!" He heard Shippo yell as he held onto Miroku's shoulders. "Kagome's scent is—!"

"I know!" the silver haired half demon exclaimed, not slowing down.

"So Kagome-chan is close by?" Miroku asked Shippo as he tried to keep up with how fast Inuyasha was running.

Shippo nodded.

With how strong Kagome's scent was, even he could tell their reunion with the blue eyed teenager was just a few seconds away...

Then the whole world seemed came to a sudden stop.

Inuyasha suddenly felt a giant surge of power rushing towards him. In the knick of time, he managed to block the swing of another sword with his own. Inuyasha grit his teeth at the insane amount of strength that was being used in an attempt to push him back. He slowly looked up, wanting to know just what was capable of producing such strength.

His golden orbs met beady gray ones.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" the half demon questioned.

Kisame smirked. "I believe I should be the one asking you that. But, if you must know, I'm just another guard making sure the princess isn't kidnapped."

"_You_ kidnapped her from _us_!" Inuyasha furiously retorted, using more power to try and push Kisame backwards. "Where the hell is Kagome?"

"You don't need to know!" Kisame responded while swinging his hand that held the Samehada back and catching Inuyasha's blade in another deadly lock.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku cried out in fear for his friend before another person stepped from the forestry.

The monk's violet eyes widened when he saw blood red pinwheels staring in his direction. Shippo tried to hide behind him, afraid of the intense stare.

'This isn't good,' he thought, grabbing Shippo and jumping backwards to create more distance between him and the stranger.

He glared at the handsome male who stepped from the shadows with his gaze still fixated on them.

Miroku recognized that the male was an Uchiha, which explained the eerie red eyes: the man had the sharingan. Most likely, this was Uchiha Itachi, who he had heard about thanks to Kagome's grandfather. This meant that he had to be on his guard, and not look into his eyes because from what he had heard, Itachi was a prodigy beyond his years and an excellent fighter.

Unfortunately, not everyone currently in the area knew that. "Miroku! Shippo!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he tried to look behind him to make sure he and the small child were okay. It was clear to the two Akatsuki members that the silver haired male was powerful, but not too smart when it came to thoroughly thinking his battles through. Itachi tried to catch him in a genjutsu.

"What the fuck is up with those freaky eyes of yours?"Inuyasha questioned with narrowed brows, looking back at Kisame just in the knick of time before digging his claws into his own forearm. Pulling them out, and seeing that they were coated in blood, he flung his hand in Kisame's direction.

"Blades of Blood!"

Miroku grew alarmed as he watched both Inuyasha and the Akatsuki member disappear for a brief second.

Kisame reappeared next to Itachi, and Inuyasha reappeared next to him.

"That's an interesting attack," commented Kisame as he straightened up from his slightly crouched position, wiping away the small flecks of blood that stained his face.

Miroku glared at him, immediately going into a defensive position, just in case either man decided to attack. "Judging by your cloaks, I assume the two of you are from the Akatsuki?"

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed down into slits.

"So you know about us?" Kisame asked in amusement while Itachi kept quiet.

Shippo poked his head from behind Miroku's legs. "The _Akatsuki_ kidnapped Kagome?"

Even he had heard of the infamous criminal organization.

Kisame's eyes lowered down to the young boy. "What's it to you?"

"K-Kagome is our friend," Shippo glared at him, intimidated, but not willing to back down. "And we want her back!"

"Damn straight! And we're _gonna_ get her back!" Inuyasha continued, his hand clenching around Tetsusaiga's hilt.

All three males got their wish to see Kagome, when a sudden feminine yell echoed throughout the clearing.

"You don't understand: let go of me, Tobi-kun!"

"Sorry Kagome-chan, but we can't risk you running off again!"

As soon as that was said, two more Akatsuki members stepped out of the dark forest.

Apparently, they had heard all the commotion and had decided to investigate.

But what caught Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippo's eyes was the struggling teenager the taller of the two men was holding bridal style.

Inuyasha nearly dropped the Tetsusaiga in shock.

"Ka-Kagome-cha..." Miroku drifted off, his tone incredulous.

She looked just as shocked as he did when she turned her head towards them.

Shippo's reaction was more dramatic. "Kagome!" he wailed, taking a few steps towards her.

Kagome's eyes began glistening with emotion.

She couldn't believe that... they had come for her...

Had they been looking for her this whole time?

Her heart warmed at the thought.

However, it stilled once again when Inuyasha was suddenly in front of her, attempting to wrench her out of Tobi's hold.

"Don't worry, Kagome! You'll be back with us soon enough!" Inuyasha told her, while trying to push Tobi back.

It was only until Kagome, out of the corner of her eyes, saw Deidara stick his hand into a pouch of clay located in his side that Kagome really started to worry.

"_Deidara-senpai likes explosions!" _she recalled Tobi saying earlier.

'I have to stop this!' she thought with determination, not wanting the important people in her life to get hurt.

The results were going to hurt, but in the end, Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo would still be safe.

And that was all she wanted.

Out of instinct, Kagome pointed a finger towards Inuyasha.

The golden eyed male immediately shrank back, knowing very well what was going to happen next.

"No, wait, Kago—!"

"Inuyasha, sit!"

A plain, black beaded chain around Inuyasha's neck glowed pink, and before any of the Akatsuki members could comprehend what was going on, Inuyasha face planted into the ground.

Silence blanketed the clearing.

'Some things never change,' Miroku and Shippo thought with sweat drops.

Itachi stared on with a raised eyebrow.

Tobi didn't say a word.

Deidara looked amused.

Kisame began laughing.

He continued to laugh, even as Kagome turned to glare at him.

After a couple of seconds, Inuyasha lifted his head, feeling Kagome's heated stare burn into the back of his skull.

The glare he was somehow, for some reason, _elated_ to see.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kagome screeched with a stomp. "I haven't seen you in a while now, and instead of rationally trying to deal with this, you start a fight? I'm over here, about to cry because I'm so happy to see you guys, and that's what you do?"

Inuyasha sat up and his dog ears flattened on his head. For once in his life, he kept his mouth shut.

Kagome's expression softened at the sight of her friend. And at what she was about to do. "You're still... such a jerk..."

Inuyasha's eyes widened when he noticed tears were filling her pretty blue-gray eyes.

"Kago..." he tried to say.

"I'm sorry," she said, before Inuyasha's vision went black.

* * *

"You promise they're alright?"

Itachi nodded. "The genjutsu placed on them was not extreme and not enough to injure them."

Kagome looked at him suspiciously.

The Uchiha stared right back.

Their staring match lasted for a few seconds.

Giving in, Kagome let out a long sigh and looked back towards the three males laying in an open field of herbs.

It was the same field of herbs she had been in before she had been taken by the Akatsuki.

After knocking them out, Kagome had managed (without much effort) to convince the four Akatsuki males to help her carry them back to her home village. She had personally carried Shippo back, so that her scent would comfort him for a while to come.

"Thank you... for not killing them. Or hurting them," she said in gratitude, running her hands through Shippo's ruffled bangs.

"They seem to care for you... and you care for them," Itachi replied softly.

Kagome nodded. "I do. I really do."

In all honesty, she truly was sad that she wouldn't be returning with her friends today. Or maybe even for a long while. But, she knew that she couldn't risk the Akatsuki getting caught by anyone. Because even though they tended to tease her, _and_ say the most awkwardest things, _and_ make life extremely stressful for her...

She cared about them too. More so than anyone would ever believe.

Kisame, Deidara, and Tobi watched on, a little distance away.

The mood was melancholic.

And, of course, Tobi ruined it all with his unnecessary commentary.

"Are Kagome-chan and Itachi-san secret lovers too?" he wondered.

Kisame and Deidara rolled their eyes.

"Shut up, Tobi."

* * *

It was almost nighttime when Inuyasha woke up.

The male abruptly sat up, checking his surroundings to make sure he wasn't in any danger.

He wasn't.

He noticed that Miroku and Shippo were laying next to him, soundly asleep.

It all came back to him then.

"Kagome!" He exclaimed before he realized that besides Miroku and Shippo laying next to him, Kagome was not here with them. He had completely failed. "Damn it..." he muttered with tight fists.

He blinked when he heard the sound of crinkling paper.

He looked down at his hand, slightly stunned to see he was holding a note.

A note that had Kagome's scent all over it. A very slight smile sketched itself across his face. It was nice to know she still had her habit of giving people messages and such when she couldn't talk to them directly. He thought it was stupid before, but now, he appreciated her compassion to do so. He wasted no time in opening it.

There, written in Kagome's typical, girly, _comforting, perfect_ handwriting, were the words:_ Please don't worry about me. I'll be fine. They won't hurt me. _

Inuyasha stared it for a few moments before he finally rolled his eyes and weakly 'keh'ed.' But he was more relieved now than he had been for a while now, because he believed her: he knew that Kagome was safe. Not necessarily in good hands, but she _was_ safe. He could relax, even if it were just a little.

Because only Kagome could get an organization of criminals to push aside their wickedness and open the hearts they supposedly thought they didn't have. Because only Kagome had a smile that seemed to make the world that much brighter. Because she was the type of person who _everyone_ cared about.

_Everyone_.

And he understood.

"Tch. Everyone always spoils you," he muttered to her, pretending she was really there.

But maybe pretending wasn't necessary.

Kagome was always there.

End of Chapter.

* * *

A/N: So there is officially one more chapter left to this story. And it will be posted before May 19th, I promise you that! Why? Because that's when I graduate. :)


	12. What Bonds us Together

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I meant to have this up before graduation (which, even though I was practically convulsing cause I was so freakin' cold, was amazing :D), but life was busy and I needed to get stuff done before I could finish typing this last chapter that we've all been waiting for. :)

It's been a _long, looong_ ride, but I hope you guys enjoy this final chapter as much as I enjoyed typing it.

Real quick though, I just want to thank everyone for everything. Thanks to those who have reviewed, thanks to those who have been reading since the very beginning, thanks to those who congratulated me, thanks to those who love this story, thanks to those who hate it: so pretty much, **thank you everyone**! In the end, you all helped create this mass of insanity that I guess we can call a story.

So yah. My appreciation for you all will last forever, and ever, and ever.

So, without further ado: the last chapter of Property of Akatsuki: Higurashi Kagome.

* * *

"Be there, be there, be there, be there!" Repeated Higurashi Souta in hurried gasps of breaths as he led his mother to the place where he _swore_ he felt Kagome's aura lingering around.

Despite Kagome being the one with the incredible powers, he himself had quite a few skills that weren't as well known. And he planned on keeping it that way, since Kagome's powers seemed to get her into more trouble than necessary.

Although, he had a feeling it had more to do with Kagome herself than her powers.

Ikuko, who looked more anxious than anything, kept a close distance between her and her son. She didn't question the fact that her son claimed that he sensed Kagome—she just wanted to see for herself if Kagome really had returned to them. She didn't want to get too excited though, in case it turned out to be a false alarm.

But... hope clutched her heart and _refused_ to let go. There was something in her gut that screamed at her that Kagome was indeed there, wherever there was.

And—

"Mom, look! It's Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" the youngest Higurashi shouted.

Frantic brown orbs widened as a figure clad in a red haori and matching red pants turned at the sound of Souta's voice.

What neither Higurashi was expecting was for Miroku to tiredly sit up, seeming to have just woken up from a nap. The monk looked in Inuyasha's direction to ask something, but he only blinked in surprise when he heard Souta and Ikuko came to a halt just a few feet behind them. He turned towards them, fully awake now.

Shippo still lay asleep besides them.

"W-where's Kagome?" Souta asked the two of them the moment he had caught his breath.

He got his answer when Inuyasha and Miroku exchanged a guilty glance.

Ikuko felt her heart deflate a little. "Was she here though?" She timidly asked, hoping to get an affirmative answer.

Clearing his throat, Miroku replied with a nod, "she was."

Ikuko brought a hand up to her heart and clenched it into a tight fist, relief causing it to shake. Souta began looking around the seemingly empty field of herbs. "Where is she now?" He questioned, expecting his sister to pop out of a bush or something at any moment.

Inuyasha finally spoke. "Listen kid, you gotta understand that—"

"Where's Kagome?" Souta yelled, looking down at his idol, expecting him to say something like, 'oi, calm down, she just went to go help some villager that asked for her assistance. You know how Kagome is—can't say no to anyone! She'll be back soon.'

But that wasn't what Inuyasha was really going to _say_.

Inuyasha's dog like ears pressed down against his skull at Souta's outburst.

Sensing the male's discomfort, Ikuko placed a hand on Souta's shoulder. "Souta, please listen to what Inuyasha-kun has to say, okay?" the kind woman pleaded.

Souta frowned and crossed his arms across his chest before gazing off into the distance. Knowing that her son would be silent for a few moments, Ikuko directed her attention back on Inuyasha. "So... you did see Kagome?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah."

"Is she... did she look okay?"

"Better than okay, I'd say," Miroku answered with a sturdy nod, "still lovely, and still feisty."

"Oi monk, don't disrespect Kagome like that in front of her mom!" Inuyasha protested, whacking the perverted monk on the side of the head.

Miroku pouted. "I wasn't disrespecting Kagome-chan, I was complimenting her!"

"When it's you who's saying it, it's disrespectful!"

"Inuyasha, that's not true! I—!"

Ikuko clapped her hands together, immediately defusing the situation and keeping it from getting out of hand.

Inuyasha chose to scowl, and looked to his left while Miroku offered a melancholic look to the understanding woman known as Kagome's mother. "Ikuko-san, did you know Kagome-chan is with the Akatsuki?"

"I had an idea," Ikuko truthfully replied with a somber smile. "A _friend_ gave me the necklace she had originally made for Inuyasha, remember?"

Shock filled the field before all sets of eyes landed on the black and white rosary still wrapped around her small wrist.

...it all made sense now.

"They were all protective of her," Inuyasha suddenly muttered, tearing his eyes away from the necklace. "It kinda pissed me off."

"Kagome always did make friends very easily," Ikuko commented as she too stared down at the rosary. "I suppose that this situation, despite the fact that there are criminals involved, is no different."

Miroku sat up straighter. "But Ikuko-san, aren't you worried about Kagome-chan's saf—"

He stopped talking when Inuyasha suddenly held up a small slip of paper to Ikuko.

"She probably wanted you to have that," the silver haired male muttered.

Ikuko took it from his hold. Souta leaned closer to her, wanting to see what message his older sister had left this time.

_Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. They won't hurt me. _

A strange but comforting feeling took over Ikuko's body in that moment and she closed her eyes, bringing the note that Kagome had held just a little while ago to her heart.

It was all okay. Kagome was safe.

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring her back," Inuyasha said, his tone apologetic.

Ikuko shook her head, dismissing his words. "Don't apologize, Inuyasha-kun. You know how she is: we _all_ know how she is. She's the type of girl who's never really in any danger," she told him as she made her way over to the slumbering Shippo and lifted him into her arms, intent on carrying him back home.

Miroku nodded in agreement. "This is very true."

Ikuko smiled: a real smile this time, and not just one of comfort.

Miroku and Inuyasha stiffened, alarmed at her mood change.

Whenever Kagome switched moods like that, it meant something bad was about to happen.

Something really, _really_ bad.

They could only imagine what her mom was capable of when she switched moods like that.

"Well, how about we all go back to my house and I cook you boys some dinner? Sounds good, ne?" The older woman invited as she began walking back in the direction of her home.

"Maybe we should tell her that her daughter is still living with S-ranked criminals?" Inuyasha asked once she was far away enough, still slightly frightened.

Miroku gulped. "I think we should. I don't think she heard what we said."

Souta sighed. But, despite his current feelings, even he couldn't help but feel relieved. "It's not that, you guys. She's just relieved to know for sure that Kagome's safe. It's only natural that she's super happy now that she knows that her daughter is going to be okay."

Miroku slowly smiled at the young boy who resembled Kagome, and in his mind, he pictured that he was in fact, talking to the blue eyed beauty. "Indeed, she always will be."

Inuyasha keh'ed and stood up. "Like I said: there's nothin' to worry about. Kagome probably has those Akatsuki guys wrapped around her little finger, and makes them clean, and cook and..."

From up ahead, Ikuko's smile widened.

No one could understand just how elated she felt at the moment. No one could understand how one small sheet of paper with three small sentences had _brightened_ her world, because she knew that Kagome was alright.

Her beautiful, kind, sweet daughter was _alright_.

It was still hard for her though, because she couldn't see her at the moment and probably wouldn't for another while. But, she knew deep in her heart that eventually, Kagome would return home.

Kagome _always_ came home.

And Ikuko would eagerly be waiting for her return.

Even if it took one year.

Even if took five years.

Even if it took ten years.

* * *

If there was one thing Kagome could say about her stay with the Akatsuki, it was that it had been entertaining. And exhausting, but she was no stranger to that particular feeling.

She supposed that at first, she had been anxious, and a bit scared after Leader had forced her to join the most feared organization in the shinobi world, but not as much as one _should_ be if they were stuck in the same situation as her. After all, living with a bunch of S-ranked criminals listed prominently in the bingo book was not something to be happy about.

Yet, for some reason, even from the very beginning, that hadn't bothered her. The fact that she was surrounded by murderers barely even registered in her mind, and she never really gave much thought to it.

'You're too damn trusting,' Inuyasha had always told her, and she would usually reply by saying 'it's trust that binds humans together, so why wouldn't I trust him or her?' and Inuyasha would glare at her, because even inside his stubborn head, he knew she was right.

Was trusting a group of male delinquents the smartest idea in the world?

No, definitely not.

However, Kagome had this habit of not conforming to society's standards and as a result...

...she tended to get along with everybody.

Well, almost everybody.

"He is not my boyfriend!"

"Then why the fuck is Tobi babbling on about how this Inuyasha guy or whatever practically threw himself on you and proclaimed his love for you or some shit like that?"

Kagome blanched and looked away from Hidan towards a jittery Tobi, who stood there with his hands up in a defensive position. "Tobi-kun, that didn't happen!" she yelled.

Tobi clapped his hands together. "But Tobi saw in Inuyasha's eyes that that was what he wanted to do!"

As expected, Deidara stepped in. "How the hell could you see that when all you have to look out of is that stupid little peep hole in that even stupider mask!"

Tobi clenched his fists to his heart, well aware that his superior was suffering from conflicting emotions. "Don't let jealousy cloud your judgment, Deidara-senpai!"

"Don't let stupidity cloud yours, hm!"

Kagome stomped her foot. For once, she wished that she could walk in this living room without having to bite someone's head off! "Can you guys please stop yelling at each other?"

Kisame tried to stifle his chuckles, and from beside him, Itachi watched the scene as it continued to unravel with a stoic expression, but there was definitely a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"It's almost like the time Tobi convinced the others you and Kagome were secretly seeing one another," the Uchiha lightly commented.

Kisame shook his head, that particular incident still fresh in his mind. "That poor girl."

"On the bright side though," said a familiar voice as the ever present Zetsu popped out of the ground to stand besides Kisame, _"she's not thinking about how much she misses her family and friends."_

"Of course not," Kisame replied, "she looks like she's thinking of ways to kill Hidan and Tobi instead."

* * *

"She returned," Konan commented from the room she and Pein were waiting in, having sensed Kagome's presence along with the other four, but not wanting to go outside and deal with the commotion currently taking place.

Pein looked out the window, his gaze deep and pensive. "...I wanted that girl here because I knew she would change the mind sets of the members of this organization. As shinobi living in a world plagued by war and hate, happiness, love, and joy are merely regarded as burdens. They _are_ burdens. We are tools, and nothing more. However, she's the one person who would help a deranged group of convicts experience the emotions that were robbed from them from the beginning. They deserve that, at the least."

"...in order words, she does not make it a burden," Konan simplified.

Pein remained silent, but Konan knew he agreed with her statement.

She herself enjoyed having Kagome around too.

* * *

At this point, the sharp pain enveloping Kagome's head wasn't a headache.

It was a _migraine_.

"Sit him, hm!"

"I'm not going to sit Tobi-kun, Deidara-kun!"

"Yay!" Tobi cheered. After all, he in no way, shape or form, wanted his face smashed into the ground. "Ka-go-me-chan is not going to sit To-bi~" he sang.

Annoyed with Tobi (like always), Hidan grasped the rosary around his neck, pulled it off and thrust it in Kagome's direction. "Here, now sit the happy go lucky fucker," he pleaded.

Kagome frowned and pushed the silver rosary away. "I can't believe you guys! The only reason I even use that is to keep Inuyasha from getting into serious trouble."

"That's hard to believe, hm," Deidara muttered in a low tone.

Hidan stared down at Kagome, intrigued with what he had just discovered. "So wait, you're into S&M? Is that why you have this so called 'sit' command?"

"Did you not hear what I just said!" Kagome fumed as her face turned red.

Hidan smirked as if he had just uncovered some deep dark secret of hers. "It's always the pretty ones who are into the weird shit," he said.

"Smashing someone's face into the ground counts as S&M?" Deidara asked.

"If the person likes it, then yeah," Hidan nodded sagely.

The fire in Kagome's body died out at that.

...they could believe whatever they wanted to believe.

Tobi suddenly grabbed her hand, alarmed at how much her body had slumped at Hidan's words. "Don't collapse on us like last time, Kagome-chan!" he exclaimed, catching everyone's attention.

Kisame came up from behind and began patting her head. "As the princess of the Akatsuki, you should expect every single day from now on to be like this," he teased.

"Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to that," Kagome mock sobbed.

"What you need is some stunning art to cheer you up, hm," Deidara said with a cocky smirk. He reached into the pouch attached to his pants and pulled out a wad of clay to begin making a sculpture he _knew_ Kagome would appreciate.

Hidan decided to use another approach. "How about I dress up like this Inuyasha guy for you and you can just sit me to hell or whatever: I heard he has silver hair just like me."

"You might want to be careful: Kagome might try to slam your face into the ground with her bare hands," Itachi added in that serious yet teasing tone of his.

This time, Kagome couldn't help but smile.

'It's not just trust that binds people together,' she told herself as she watched Hidan attempt to rile up a typical calm Itachi, and saw Deidara attempt to re-sculpt 'mistress centipede,' and felt Tobi tighten his hold on her hand, and Kisame pat the top of her head, 'it's the need to be emotionally attached to someone too,' she concluded.

She completely understood why she was here now, and she did not have a single protest against it. She missed her family and friends, without a doubt, but, she had a feeling she would see them again.

Having eight or so convicts emotionally attached to her?

Not the brightest idea ever.

But...

Kagome brightly smiled.

She wasn't a fan of conforming to society's standards anyways.

END.


End file.
